iRAsn1  HUE  SHE 


SKETCHES 


OF    THE 


LIFE-AND  CHARACTER 


PATRICK    HENRY: 


BY 

WILLIAM    WIRT, 

OF   RICHMOND,  VA. 


In  quo  hoc  maximum  est,  quod  neque  ante  ilium,  quern  ille  irnitarateur  neque  post 
ilium  qui  eum  imitari  poosset,  iuventus  est." — PATIRC.  lib.  i.  cap.  v. 


FIFTEENTH  EDITION,  CORRECTED  BY  THE  AUTHOR. 


HARTFORD: 

SILAS    AND  E  US    &    SON. 

1852. 


DISTRICT  pp  PENNSYLVANIA,  TO  WIT 

#e  //  Remembered,  That,  on  the  twenty- first  day  of  March,  in  the  forty-second  year 
of  the  Independence  of  the  United  States  of  America,  JAMES  WEBSTER,  of  the  said  Dis- 
trk-t,  hath  deposited  in  this  office  the  title  of  a  book,  the  right  whereof  he  claims  as  pro 
prietor,  in  the  words  following,  to  wit:  "Sketches  of  the  Life  and  Character  of  Patrick 
Henry.  By  William  Wirt,  of  Richmond,  Virginia.  Second  edition,  corrected  by  the  Author 
in  quo  hoc  maximum  est,  quod  neque  ante  ilium,  quein  ille  imitaretiu,  neque  post  ilium, 
qui  eum  imi:ari  posset,  inventus  est.  Paterc.  lib.  i.  cap.  v."  In  conformity  to  the  act  of 
Congress  oi"  the  United  Slates,  entitled,  ''An  act  for  the  encouragement  of  learning,  by  se 
curing  the  copies  of  Maps,  Charts,  ami  Books,  to  the  authors  arid  proprietors  of  such  co 
pies,  during  the  time  therein  mentioned;"  and  also  loan  act,  entitled,  "An  act  supplemen 
tary  to  an  act,  entitled,  'An  act  for  the  encouragement  of  learning,  by  securing  the  copies 
of  Maps,  Charts,  and  Books,  to  the  authors  and  proprietors  of  such  copies,  during  the  time 
therein  mentioned'  and  extending  the  benefits  thereof  to  the  arts  of  designing,  engraving, 
and  etching,  historical  and  other  Prints."  D.  CALDWELL, 

Clerk  of  the  District  of  Pennsylvania. 

Re-entered,  according  to  tha  act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1832,  by  M'ELRATH  &  BANGS. 
In  the  Clerk's  Oflice  of  the  District  Court  of  '.he  Southern  District  of  New  York. 

Stereotyped  l,<j  Rudfidd  #  Lindsay, 

CHAMBERS  STREET,    NEW  YORK. 


TO 

THE    V  O  U  N  G    MEN   OF   VIRGINIA, 
THIS  WORK 

TS    RESPECTFULLY    INSCRIBED, 
BY 

THE  AUTHOR 


PREFACE. 

THE  reader  has  a  right  to  know  what  degree 
of  credit  is  due  to  the  following  narrative ;  and 
it  is  the  object  of  this  preface  to  give  him  that 
satisfaction. 

It  was  in  the  summer  of  1805,  that  the  design 
of  writing  this  biography  was  first  conceived. 
It  was  produced  by  an  incident  of  feeling,  which, 
however  it  affected  the  author  at  the  time,  might 
now  be  thought  liofht  and  trivial  by  the  reader ; 
and  he  shall  not,  therefore,  be  detained  by  the 
recital  of  it.  The  author  knew  nothing  of  Mr. 
Henry,  personally.  He  had  never  seen  him ;  and 
was  of  course  compelled  to  rely  wholly  on  the 
information  of  others.  As  soon,  therefore,  as  the 
design  was  formed  of  writing  his  life,  aware  of 
the  necessity  of  losing  no  time  in  collecting,  from 
the  few  remaining  coevals  of  Mr.  Henry,  that 
personal  knowledge  of  the  subject  which  might 
ere  long  be  expected  to  die  with  them,  the  author 
despatched  letters  to  every  quarter  of  the  state 


vi  PREFACE. 

in  which  it  occurred  to  him  as  probable  that 
interesting  matter  might  be  found  ;  and  he  was 
gratified  by  the  prompt  attention  which  was  paid 
to  his  inquiries. 

There  wrere,  at  that  time,  living  in  the  county  of 
Hanover,  three  gentlemen  of  the  first  respectability, 
who  had  been  the  companions  of  Mr.  Henry's 
childhood  and  youth;  these  were,  Col.  Charles 
Dabney,  Capt.  George  Dabney,  and  Col.  William 
O.  Winston ;  the  two  first  of  whom  are  still  living. 
Not  having  the  pleasure  of  a  personal  acquaint 
ance  with  these  gentlemen,  the  author  interested 
the  late  Mr.  Nathaniel  Pope  in  his  object,  and, 
by  his  instrumentality,  procured  all  the  useful 
information  which  was  in  their  possession.  Mr. 
Pope  is  well  known  to  have  been  a  gentleman  of 
uncommonly  vigorous  and  discriminating  mind ; 
a  sacred  observer  of  truth,  and  a  man  of  the  purest 
sense  of  honour.  The  author  cannot  recall  the 
memory  of  this  most  amiable  and  excellent  man, 
to  whom  (if  there  be  any  merit  in  this  work)  the 
friends  of  Mr.  Henry  and  the  state  of  Virginia  owe 
so  many  obligations,  without  paying  to  that  revered 
memory  the  tribute  of  his  respect  and  affection. 
Mr.  Pope  was  one  of  those  ardent  young  Virginians, 


PREFACE  vii 

who  embarked  before  they  had  attained  their  ma 
turity,  in  the  cause  of  the  American  revolution : 
he  joined  an  animated  and  active  corps  of  horse, 
and  signalized  himself  by  an  impetuous  gallantry, 
which  drew  upon  him  the  eyes  and  the  applause 
of  his  commander.  In  peace,  he  was  as  mild  as 
he  had  been  brave  in  war ;  his  bosom  was  replete 
with  the  kindest  affections ;  he  was,  in  truth,  one 
of  the  best  of  companions,  and  one  of  the  warmest 
of  friends.  The  fact  that  he  was  the  acknow 
ledged  head  of  the  several  bars  at  which  he 
practised  in  the  country,  may  assure  the  reader 
of  his  capacity  for  the  commission  which  he  so 
cheerfully  undertook,  in  regard  to  Mr.  Henry; 
and  the  unblemished  integrity  of  his  life  may 
assure  him  also  of  the  fidelity  with  which  that 
commission  was  executed.  So  many  important 
anecdotes  in  the  following  work  depend  on  the 
credit  of  this  gentleman  as  a  witness,  that  the 
slight  sketch  which  has  been  given  of  his  charac 
ter,  will  not,  it  is  hoped,  be  thought  foreign  to  the 
purpose  of  this  preface.  Mr.  Pope  did  not  con 
fine  his  inquiries  to  the  county  of  Hanover:  he 
was  indefatigable  in  collecting  information  from 
every  quarter;  which  he  never  accepted,  how- 


viii  PREFACE. 

ever,  but  from  the  purest  sources ;  and  his  au 
thority  for  every  incident  was  given  with  the  most 
scrupulous  accuracy.  The  author  had  hoped  to 
have  had  it  in  his  power  to  gratify  this  gentleman, 
by  submitting  to  his  view  the  joint  result  of  their 
labours,  and  obtaining  the  benefit  of  his  last  cor 
rections  ;  but  he  was  disappointed  by  his  untimely 
and  melancholy  death.  He  fell  a  victim  to  that 
savage  practice,  which,  under  the  false  name  of 
honour,  continued  to  prevail  too  long ;  and  his 
death  is  believed  to  have  been  highly  instru 
mental  in  hastening  that  system  of  legislation  in 
restraint  of  this  practice,  which  now  exists  in 
Virginia. 

Besides  the  contributions  furnished  by  Mr.  Pope, 
the  writer  derived  material  aid  from  various  other 
quarters.  The  widow  of  Mr.  Henry  was  still  liv 
ing,  and  had  intermarried  with  Judge  Winston; 
from  this  gentleman  (who  was  also  related  to  Mr. 
Henry  by  blood,  and  had  been  intimately  acquainted 
with  him  through  the  far  greater  part  of  his  life,) 
the  author  received  a  succinct,  but  extremely 
accurate  and  comprehensive  memoir. 

Col.  Meredith,  of  Amherst,  was  a  few  years 
older  than  Mr.  Henry,  had  been  raised  in  the 


PREFACE  ix 

same  neighbourhood,  and  had  finally  married  one 
of  his  sisters.  Having  known  Mr.  Henry  from  his 
birth  to  his  death,  he  had  it  in  his  power  to  supply 
very  copious  details,  which  were  taken  down  from 
his  narration  by  the  present  Judge  Cabell,  and 
forwarded  to  the  author. 

One  of  the  most  intimate  and  confidential  friends 
of  Mr.  Henry  was  the  late  Judge  Tyler.  The 
judge  had  a  kind  of  Roman  frankness,  and  even 
bluntness,  in  his  manners,  together  with  a  decision 
of  character  and  a  benevolence  of  spirit,  which  had 
attached  Mr.  Henry  to  him,  from  his  first  appear 
ance  on  the  public  stage.  They  were,  for  a  long 
time,  members  of  the  House  of  Delegates  together, 
and  their  friendship  continued  until  it  was  severed 
by  death.  From  Judge  Tyler  the  author  received 
a  very  minute  and  interesting  communication  of 
incidents,  the  whole  of  which  had  either  passed  in 
his  own  presence,  or  had  been  related  to  him  by 
Mr.  Henry  himself. 

The  writer  is  indebted  to  Judge  Tucker  for 
two  or  three  of  his  best  incidents;  one  of  them 
will  probably  be  pronounced  the  most  interesting 
passage  of  the  work.  He  owes  to  the  same  gen 
tleman,  too,  the  fullest  and  liveliest  description  of 


X  PREFACE., 

the  person  of  Mr.  Henry,  which  has  been  fur 
nished  from  any  quarter;  and  he  stands  further 
indebted  to  him  for  a  rare  and  (to  the  purpose  of 
this  work)  a  very  important  book — the  Journals 
of  the  House  of  Burgesses  for  the  years  1763-4- 
5-6  and  7. 

From  Judge  Roane  the  author  has  received  one 
of  the  fairest  and  most  satisfactory  communications 
that  has  been  made  to  him;  and  the  vigour  and 
elegance  with  which  that  gentleman  writes,  has 
frequently  enabled  the  author  to  relieve  the  dulness 
of  his  own  narrative,  by  extracts  from  his  statements. 

Mr.  Jefferson,  too,  has  exercised  his  well-known 
kindness  and  candour  on  this  occasion ;  having  not 
only  favoured  the  author  with  a  very  full  com 
munication  in  the  first  instance ;  but  assisted  him, 
subsequently  and  repeatedly,  with  his  able  counsel, 
in  reconciling  apparent  contradictions,  and  clearing 
away  difficulties  of  fact. 

Besides  these  statements,  drawn  from  the  memory 
of  his  correspondents,  the  writer  was  favoured,  by 
the  late  Governor  Page,  with  the  reading  of  a 
pretty  extended  sketch,  which  he  had  himself 
prepared,  of  the  life  of  Mr.  Henry ;  and  he  has, 
furthermore,  availed  himself  of  the  kind  permission 


PREFACE.  xi 

of  Mr.  Peyton  Randolph,  to  examine  an  extremely 
valuable  manuscript  history  of  Virginia,  written 
by  his  father,  the  late  Mr.  Edmund  Randolph; 
which  embraces  the  whole  period  of  Mr.  Henry's 
public  life. 

In  addition  to  these  stores  of  information,  the 
author  has  had  the  good  fortune  to  procure  com 
plete  files  of  the  public  newspapers,  reaching  from 
the  year  1765  down  to  the  close  of  the  American 
revolution ;  by  these  he  has  been  enabled  to  correct, 
in  some  important  instances,  the  memory  of  his 
correspondents,  in  relation  not  only  to  dates,  but  to 
facts  themselves. 

He  has  been  fortunate,  too,  in  having  procured 
several  original  letters,  which  shed  much  light  on 
important  and  hitherto  disputed  facts,  in  the  life  of 
Mr.  Henry. 

The  records  of  the  General  Court,  and  the 
archives  of  the  state,  having  been  convenient  to 
the  author,  and  always  open  to  him.  he  has  en 
deavoured  assiduously  and  carefully  to  avail  him 
self  of  that  certain  and  permanent  evidence  which 
they  afford ;  and  has  been  enabled,  by  this  means, 
us  the  reader  will  discover,  to  correct  some  strange 
mistakes  in  historical  facts. 


xii  PREFACE. 

The  author's  correspondents  will  find,  that  he  has 
departed,  in  some  instances,  from  their  respective 
statements ;  and  he  owes  them  an  explanation 
for  having  done  so  :  the  explanation  is  this — their 
statements  were,  in  several  instances,  diametrically 
opposed  to  each  other;  and  were  sometimes  all 
contradicted  by  the  public  prints,  or  the  records 
of  the  state.  It  ought  not  to  be  matter  of  surprise, 
that  these  contradictions  should  exist,  even  among 
those  most  respectable  gentlemen,  relying,  as  they 
did,  upon  human  memory  merely;  and  speaking  of 
events  so  very  remote,  without  a  previous  oppor 
tunity  of  communicating  with  each  other.  It  will 
be  seen  by  them,  that  the  author  has  been  obliged, 
in  several  instances,  to  contradict  even  the  several 
histories  of  .the  times,  concerning  which  he  writes  ; 
but  this  he  has  never  done,  without  the  most  de 
cisive  proofs  of  his  own  correctness,  which  he  has 
always  cited;  nor  has  he  ever  departed  from  the 
narratives  of  his  several  correspondents,  except 
under  the  direction  of  preponderating  evidence. 
As  among  those  contradictory  statements,  all  could 
not  be  true,  he  has  sought  the  correction  by  public 
documents,  when  such  correction  was  attainable ; 
and  when  it  was  not,  he  has  selected,  amono-  his 


PREFACE.  xiii 

narrators,  those  whose  opportunities  to  know  the 
fact  in  question  seemed  to  be  the  best.  This  he 
has  done,  without  the  slightest  intention  to  throw  a 
shadow  of  suspicion  on  the  credit  of  any  gentleman 
who  has  been  so  obliging  as  to  answer  his  inquiries ; 
but  merely  from  the  necessity  which  he  was  under, 
either  of  making  some  selection,  or  abandoning 
the  work  altogether;  and  because  he  knew  of  no 
better  rule  of  selection,  than  that  which  he  has 
adopted. 

Although  it  has  been  so  long  since  the  collection 
of  these  materials  was  begun,  it  was  not  until 
the  summer  of  1814  that  the  last  communication 
was  received.  Even  then,  when  the  aiithor  sat 
down  to  the  task  of  imbodying  his  materials,  there 
were  so  many  intricacies  to  disentangle,  and  so 
many  inconsistencies,  from  time  to  time,  to  explain 
and  settle,  and  that,  too,  through  the  tedious  agency 
of  cross-mails,  that  his  progress  wras  continually 
impeded,  and  has  been,  to  him,  most  painfully 
retarded. 

Other  causes,  too,  have  contributed  to  delay  the 
publication.  The  author  is  a  practising  lawyer; 
and  the  courts  which  he  attends,  keep  him  per 
petually  and  exclusively  occupied  in  that  attendance, 


xir  PREFACE. 

through  ten  months  of  the  year;  nor  does  the 
summer  recess  of  two  months  afford  a  remission 
from  professional  labour.  In  Virginia,  the  duties 
of  attorney,  counsellor,  conveyancer,  and  advocate, 
are  all  performed  by  the  same  individual ;  hence, 
the  summer  vacation,  instead  of  being  a  time  of 
leisure,  is  not  only  the  season  of  preparation  for  the 
approaching  courts,  but  is  subject,  moreover,  to  a 
perpetual  recurrence  of  what  are  here  called  office 
duties,  which  renders  a  steady  application  to  any 
other  subject  impossible. 

These  sketches  are  now  submitted  to  the  public, 
with  unaffected  diffidence ;  not  of  the  facts  which 
they  detail,  for  on  them  the  author  has  the  firmest 
reliance ;  but  of  the  manner  in  which  he  has  been 
able  to  accomplish  his  undertaking.  For  (to  say 
nothing  of  his  inexperience  and  want  of  ability  for 
such  a  work)  he  has  been  compelled  to  write 
(when  he  was  suffered  to  write  at  all)  amidst  that 
incessant  professional  annoyance  which  has  been 
mentioned,  and  which  is  known  by  every  man  who 
has  ever  made  the  trial,  to  forbid  the  hope  of 
success  in  any  composition  of  this  extent.  Could 
the  writer  have  looked  forward,  with  any  reason 
able  calculation,  to  a  period  of  greater  ease,  his 


PREFACE.  XV 

respect  for  the  memory  of  Mr.  Henry,  as  well  as 
his  regard  for  himself,  would  have  induced  him  to 
suspend  this  undertaking  until  that  period  should 
have  arrived.  But  having  no  ground  for  any  hope 
of  this  kind,  he  has  thought  it  better  to  hazard  even 
these  crude  sketches,  than  to  suffer  the  materials, 
which  he  had  accumulated  with  so  much  toil,  and 
for  an  object  which  he  thought  so  laudable,  to  perish 
on  his  hands. 

These  remarks  are  not  made  with  the  view  of 
deprecating  the  censures  of  critics  by  profession; 
but  merely  to  bespeak  the  candour  of  that  larger 
portion  of  readers,  who  are  willing  to  be  pleased 
with  the  best  efforts  that  can  be  reasonably  ex 
pected  from  the  circumstances  of  the  case.  The 
author,  however,  is  well  satisfied  that  the  most 
indulgent  reader  (although  benevolently  disposed 
to  overlook  defects  of  execution)  will  be  certainly 
disappointed  in  the  matter  itself  of  this  work ;  for, 
notwithstanding  all  his  exertions,  he  is  entirely 
conscious  that  the  materials,  which  he  has  been 
able  to  collect,  are  scanty  and  meager,  and  utterly 
disproportionate  to  the  great  fame  of  Mr.  Henry. 
It  is  probable,  that  much  of  what  was  once  known 
of  him  had  perished,  before  the  author  commenced 


xvi  PREFACE. 

Iris  researches  ;  and,  it  is  very  possible,  that  much 
may  still  be  known,  which  he  has  not  been  able  to 
discover ;  because  it  lies  in  unsuspected  sources,  or 
with  persons  unwilling,  for  some  reason  or  other, 
to  communicate  their  information.  It  is  the  con 
viction,  that  he  has  not  been  able  to  inform  himself 
of  the  whole  events  of  Mr.  Henry's  life,  and  that 
his  collection  can  be  considered  only  as  so  many 
detached  SKETCHES.  If,  in  this  humble  and  un 
assuming  character,  it  shall  give  any  pleasure  to 
the  numerous  admirers  of  Mr.  Henry,  in  Virginia, 
the  author  will  have  attained  all  that  he  has  a  right 
to  expect. 

RICHMOND,  VA.,  Sept,  6th,  1817. 


LIFE  OF  PATRICK  HENRY. 


WIRT'S 

LIFE  OF  PATRICK  HENRY 


SECTION  I. 

PATRICK  HENRY,  the  second  son  of  John  and  Sarah 
Henry,  and  one  of  nine  children,  was  born  on  the  29th  of 
May,  1736,  at  the  family  seat,  called  Studley,  in  the  county 
of  Hanover  and  colony  of  Virginia.  In  his  early  childhood, 
his  parents  removed  to  another  seat,  in  the  same  county,  then 
called  Mount  Brilliant,  now  the  Retreat;  at  which  latter 
place  Patrick  Henry  was  raised  and  educated.  His  pa 
rents,  though  not  rich,  were  in  easy  circumstances ;  and,  in 
point  of  personal  character,  were  among  the  most  respectable 
inhabitants  of  the  colony. 

His  father,  Col.  John  Henry,  was  a  native  of  Aberdeen  in 
Scotland.  He  was,  it  is  said,  a  first  cousin  to  David  Henry, 
who  was  the  brother-in-law  and  successor  of  Edward  Cave, 
in  the  publication  of  that  celebrated  work,  The  Gentle 
man's  Magazine,  and  himself  the  author  of  several  literary 
tracts :  John  Henry  is  also  said  to  have  been  a  nephew, 
in  the  maternal  line,  to  the  great  historian  Dr.  William  Ro 
bertson.  He  came  over  to  Virginia,  in  quest  of  fortune,  some 
time  prior  to  the  year  1730,  and  the  tradition  is,  that  he  en- 
(19) 


20  WIRT'S     LIFE    OF 

joyed  the  friendship  and  patronage  of  Mr.  Dinwiddie,  after 
ward  the  governor  of  the  colony.  By  this  gentleman,  it  is 
reported,  that  he  was  introduced  to  the  elder  Col.  Syme  of 
Hanover,  in  whose  family,  it  is  certain,  that  he  became  do 
mesticated  during  the  life  of  that  gentleman;  after  whose 
death  he  intermarried  with  his  widow,  and  resided  on  the 
estate  which  he  had  left.  It  is  considered  as  a  fair  proof  of 
the  personal  merit  of  Mr.  John  Henry,  that,  in  those  days, 
when  offices  were  bestowed  with  peculiar  caution,  he  was  the 
colonel  of  his  regiment,  the  principal  surveyor  of  the  county, 
and  for  many  years,  the  presiding  magistrate  of  the  county 
court.  His  surviving  acquaintances  concur  in  stating,  that 
he  was  a  man  of  liberal  education ;  that  he  possessed  a  plain, 
yet  solid  understanding;  and  lived  long  a  life  of  the  most 
irreproachable  integrity,  and  exemplary  piety.  His  brother 
Patrick,  a  clergyman  of  the  church  of  England,  followed 
him  to  this  country  some  years  afterward ;  and  became,  by 
his  influence,  the  minister  of  St.  Paul's  parish  in  Hanover, 
the  functions  of  which  office  he  sustained  throughout  life 
with  great  respectability.  Both  the  brothers  were  zealous 
members  of  the  established  church,  and  warmly  attached  to 
the  reigning  family.  Col.  John  Henry  was  conspicuously 
so.  "  There  are  those  yet  alive,"  says  a  correspondent,*  "  who 
have  seen  him  at  the  head  of  his  regiment,  celebrating  the 
birthday  of  George  the  III.  with  as  much  enthusiasm  as  his 
son  Patrick  afterward  displayed  in  resisting  the  encroach 
inents  of  that  monarch."! 

*  Mr.  Pope,  in  1805. 

t  Mr.  Burk's  account  of  Mr.  Henry  is  extremely  careless  and  full 
or errors.  He  begins  by  making  him  the  son  of  his  uncle : — '•  Patrick 
Ht'iiry.  the  son  of  a  Scotch  gentlema  i  of  the  same  name"  &c. — 3d 
vol.  of  the  History  of  Virginia,  page  SCO. 


PATRICK    HENRY.  21 

Mrs.  Henry,  the  widow  of  Col.  Syme,  as  we  have  seen, 
and  the  mother  of  Patrick  Henry,  was  a  native  of  Hanover 
county,  and  of  the  family  of  Winstons.  She  possessed,  in  an 
eminent  degree,  the  mild  and  benevolent  disposition,  the 
undeviating  probity,  the  correct  understanding,  and  easy  elo 
cution  by  which  that  ancient  family  has  been  so  long  distin 
guished.  Her  brother  William,  the  father  of  the  present 
Judge  Winston,  is  said  to  have  been  highly  endowed  with 
that  peculiar  cast  of  eloquence,  for  which  Mr.  Henry  became, 
afterward,  so  justly  celebrated.  Of  this  gentleman,  I  have 
an  anecdote  from  a  correspondent,*  which  I  shall  give  in  his 
own  words :  "  I  have  often  heard  my  father,  who  was  in 
timately  acquainted  with  this  William  Winston,  say,  that  he 
was  the  greatest  orator  whom  he  ever  heard,  Patrick  Henry 
excepted ;  that  during  the  last  French  and  Indian  war,  and 
soon  after  Braddock's  defeat,  when  the  militia  were  marched 
to  the  frontiers  of  Virginia  against  the  enemy,  this  William 
Winston  was  the  lieutenant  of  a  company;  that  the  men, 
who  were  indifferently  clothed,  without  tents,  and  exposed 
to  the  rigour  and  inclemency  of  the  weather,  discovered  great 
aversion  to  the  service,  and  were  anxious  and  even  clamor 
ous  to  return  to  their  families  ;  when  this  William  Winston, 
mounting  a  stump,  (the  common  rostrum,  you  know,  of  the 
field-orator  of  Virginia,)  addressed  them  with  such  keenness 
of  invective,  and  declaimed  with  such  force  of  eloquence,  on 
liberty  and  patriotism,  that  when  he  concluded,  the  general 
cry  was,  'Let  us  march  on;  lead  us  against  the  enemy !'  and 
they  were  now  willing,  nay,  anxious  to  encounter  all  those 
difficulties  and  dangers  which,  but  a  few  moments  before, 
had  almost  produced  a  mutiny." 

*  Mr.  Pope. 


2'Z  WIRT'S    LIFE     OF 

Thus  much  I  have  been  able  to  collect  of  the  parentage 
and  family  of  Mr.  Henry ;  and  this,  I  presume,  will  be 
thought  quite  sufficient,  in  relation  to  a  man,  who  owed  no 
part  of  his  greatness  to  the  lustre  of  his  pedigree,  but  was 
in  truth  the  sole  founder  of  his  own  fortunes. 

Until  ten  years  of  age,  Patrick  Henry  was  sent  to  a  school 
in  the  neighbourhood,  where  he  learned  to  read  and  write, 
and  made  some  small  progress  in  arithmetic.  He  was  then 
taken  home,  and  under  the  direction  of  his  father,  who  had 
opened  a  grammar-school  in  his  own  house,  he  acquired  a 
superficial  knowledge  of  the  Latin  language,  and  learned 
to  read  the  character,  but  never  to  translate  Greek.  At  the 
same  time,  he  made  a  considerable  proficiency  in  the  mathema 
tics,  the  only  branch  of  education  for  which,  it  seems,  he  dis 
covered,  in  his  youth,  the  slightest  predilection.  But  he 
was  too  idle  to  gain  any  solid  advantage  from  the  opportuni 
ties  which  were  thrown  in  his  way.  He  was  passionately  ad 
dicted  to  the  sports  of  the  field,  and  could  not  support  the  con 
finement  and  toil  which  education  required.  Hence,  in 
stead  of  system  or  any  semblance  of  regularity  in  his  studies, 
his  efforts  were  always  desultory,  and  became  more  and 
more  rare ;  until  at  length,  when  the  hour  of  his  school  ex 
ercises  arrived,  Patrick  was  scarcely  ever  to  be  found.  He 
was  in  the  forest  with  his  gun,  or  over  the  brook  with  his 
angle-rod  ;  and,  in  these  frivolous  occupations,  when  not  con 
trolled  by  the  authority  of  his  father,  (which  was  rarely  ex 
erted,)  he  would,  it  is  said,  spend  whole  days  and  weeks,  with 
an  appetite  rather  whetted  than  cloyed  by  enjoyment.  His 
school-fellows,  having  observed  his  growing  passion  for  these 
amusements,  and  having  remarked  that  its  progress  was  not 
checked  either  by  the  want  of  companions  or  the  want  of  suc 
cess,  have  frequently  watched  his  movements  to  discover,  if 


PATRICK     HENRY.  23 

l.hey  could,  the  secret  source  of  that  delight  which  they  seem 
ed  to  afford  him.  But  they  made  no  discovery  which  led 
them  to  any  other  conclusion  than  (to  use  their  own  expres 
sion)  "that  he  loved  idleness  for  its  own  sake."  They  have 
frequently  observed  him  lying  along,  under  the  shade  of  some 
tree  that  overhung  the  sequestered  stream,  watching,  for 
hours,  at  the  same  spot,  the  motionless  cork  of  his  fishing- 
line;,  without  one  encouraging  symptom  of  success,  and  with 
out,  any  apparent  source  of  enjoyment,  unless  he  could  find 
it  in  the  ease  of  his  posture,  or  in  the  illusions  of  hope,  or, 
which  is  most  probable,  in  the  stillness  of  the  scene  and  the 
silent  workings  of  his  own  imagination.  This  love  of  soli- 
tude,  in  his  youth,  was  often  observed.  Even  when  hunt 
ing  with  a  party,  his  choice  was  not  to  join  the  noisy  band 
that  drove  the  deer;  he  preferred  to  take  his  stand,  alone, 
where  he  might  wait  for  the  passing  game,  and  indulge 
himself,  meanwhile,  in  the_]uxury_of  thinking.  Not  that  he 
was  averse  to  society ;  on  the  contrary,  he  had,  at  times,  a 
very  high  zest  for  it.  But  even  in  society,  his  enjoyments, 
while  young,  were  of  a  peculiar  cast ;  he  did  not  mix  in  the 
wild  mirth  of  his  equals  in  age ;  but  sat,  quiet  and  demure, 
taking  no  part  in  the  conversation,  giving  no  responsive  smile 
to  the  circulating  jest,  but  lost,  to  all  appearance,  in  silencs 
and  abstraction.  This  abstraction,  however,  was  only  appa 
rent ;  for  on  the  dispersion  of  a  company,  when  interrogated 
by  his  parents  as  to  what  had  been  passing,  he  was  able,  not 
c»nly  to  detail  the  conversation,  but  to  sketch  with  strict  fidel- 
ity,  the  character  of  every  speaker.  None  of  these  early  de 
lineations  of  character  are  retained  by  his  contemporaries ; 
and,  indeed,  they  are  said  to  have  been  more  remarkable  for 
their  justness,  than  for  any  peculiar  felicity  of  execution. 
1  cannot  learn  that  he  gave,  in  his  youth,  any  evidence 


24  WIRT'S    LIFE     OF 

of  that  precocity  which  sometimes  distinguishes  uncommon 
genius.  His  companions  recollect  no  instance  of  premature 
wit,  no  striking  sentiment,  no  flash  of  fancy,  no  remarkable 
beauty  or  strength  of  expression  ;  and  no  indication,  however 
slight,  either  of  that  impassioned  love  of  liberty,  or  of  that 
adventurous  daring  and  intrepidity,  which  marked,  so  strong 
ly,  his  future  character.  So  far  was  he,  indeed,  from  exhibit 
ing  any  one  prognostic  of  this  greatness,  that  every  omen 
foretold  a  life,  at  best,  of  mediocrity,  if  not  of  insignificance. 
His  person  is  represented  as  having  been  coarse,  his  mariners 
uncommonly  awkward,  his  dress  slovenly,  his  conversation 
very  plain,  his  aversion  to  study  invincible,  and  his  faculties 
almost  entirely  benumbed  by  indolence.  No  persuasion 
could  bring  him  either  to  read  or  to  work.  On  the  contrary, 
he  ran  wild  in  the  forest,  like  one  of  the  aborigines  oi  the 
country,  and  divided  his  life  between  the  dissipation  and  up 
roar  of  the  chase  and  the  languor  of  inaction. 

His  propensity  to  observe  and  comment  upon  the  human 
character  was,  so  far  as  I  can  learn,  the  only  circumstance 
i  which  distinguished  him,  advantageously,  from  his  youthful 
companions.  This  propensity  seems  to  have  been  born  with 
him,  and  to  have  exerted  itseif,  instinctively,  the  moment 
that  a  new  subject  was  presented  to  his  view.  Its  action 
was  incessant,  and  it  became,  at  length,  almost  the  only  in 
tellectual  exercise  in  which  he  seemed  to  take  delight.  To 
this  cause  may  be  traced  that  consummate  knowledge  of  the 
human  heart  which  he  finally  attained,  and  which  enabled 
him,  when  he  came  upon  the  public  stage,  to  touch  the 
springs  of  passion  with  a  master-hand,  and  to  control  the 
resolutions  and  decisions  of  his  hearers,  with  a  power,  almost 
more  than  mortal. 

From  what  has  been  already  stated,  it  will  be  seen  how 


PATRICK    HENRY.  25 

I: tile  education  had  to  do  with  the  formation  of  this  great 
man  s  mind.  He  was,  indee'd,  a  mere  child  of  nature,  and 
nature  seems  to  have  been  too  proud  and  too  jealous  of  her 
work,  to  permit  it  to  be  touched  by  the  hand  of  art.  She 
gave  him  Shakspeare's  genius,  and  bade  him,  like  Shak- 
speare,  to  depend  on  that  alone.  Let  not  the  youthful  reader, 
however,  deduce,  from  the  example  of  Mr.  Henry,  an  argu 
ment  in  favour  of  indolence  and  the  contempt  of  study.  Let 
him  remember  that  the  powers  which  surmounted  the  dis 
advantage  of  those  early  habits,  were  such  as  very  rarely 
appear  upon  this  earth.  Let  him  remember,  too,  how  long 
the  genius,  even  of  Mr.  Henry,  was  kept  down  and  hidden 
from  the  public  view,  by  the  sorcery  of  those  pernicious  ha 
bits  ;  through  what  years  of  poverty  and  wretchedness  they 
doomed  him  to  struggle ;  and,  let  him  remember,  that  at 
length,  when  in  the  zenith  of  his  glory,  Mr.  Henry  himself 
had  frequent  occasions  to  deplore  the  consequences  of  his 
early  neglect  of  literature,  and  to  bewail  "  the  ghosts  of  his 
departed  hours." 

His  father,  unable  to  sustain,  with  convenience,  the  ex 
pense  of  so  large  a  family  as  was  now  multiplying  on  his 
hands,  found  it  necessary  to  qualify  his  sons,  at  a  very  early 
age,  to  support  themselves.  With  this  view,  Patrick  was 
placed,  at  the  age  of  fifteen,  behind  the  counter  of  a  merchant 
in  the  country.  How  he  conducted  himself  in  this  situation, 
I  have  not  been  able  to  learn.  There  could  not,  however,  I 
presume,  have  been  any  flagrant  impropriety  in  his  conduct, 
since,  in  the  next  year,  his  father  considered  him  qualified 
to  carry  on  business  on  his  own  account.  Under  this  im 
pression,  he  purchased  a  small  adventure  of  goods  for  his 
two  sons,  William  and  Patrick,  and,  according  to  the  lan 
guage  of  the  country,  "  set  them  up  in  trade."  William's 
D  3 


26  WIRT'S    LIFE     OF 

habits  of  idleness  were,  if  possible,  still  more  unfortunate  than 
Patrick's.  The  chief  management  of  their  concerns  devolv 
ed,  therefore,  on  the  younger  brother,  and  that  management 
seems  to  have  been  most  wretched. 

Left  to  himself,  all  the  indolence  of  his  character  returned. 
Those  unfortunate  habits  which  he  had  formed,  and  whose 
spell  was  already  too  strong  to  be  broken,  comported  very 
poorly  with  that  close  attention,  that  accuracy  and  perseve 
ring  vigour,  which  are  essential  to  the  merchant.  The 
drudgery  of  retailing  and  of  book-keeping  soon  became  in 
tolerable  ;  yet  he  was  obliged  to  preserve  appearances  by  re 
maining  continually  at  his  stand.  Besides  these  unpropi- 
tious  habits,  there  was  still  another  obstacle  to  his  success, 
in  the  natural  kindness  of  his  temper.  "  He  could  not  find 
it  in  his  heart"  to  disappoint  any  one  who  came  to  him  for 
credit;  and  he  was  very  easily  satisfied  by  apologies  for 
non-payment.  He  condemned,  in  himself,  this  facility  of 
temper,  and  foresaw  the  embarrassments  with  which  it 
threatened  him;  but  he  was  unable  to  overcome  it.  Even 
with  the  best  prospects,  the  confinement  of  such  a  business 
would  have  been  scarcely  supportable ;  but  with  those  which 
now  threatened  him,  his  store  became  a  prison.  To  make 
the  matter  still  worse,  the  joys  of  the  chase,  joys  now  to  him 
forbidden,  echoed  around  him  every  morning,  and  by  their 
contrast,  and  the  longings  which  they  excited,  contributed 
to  deepen  the  disgust  which  he  had  taken  to  his  employ 
ments. 

From  these  painful  reflections,  and  the  gloomy  forebodings 

which  darkened  the  future,  he  sought,  at  first,  a  refuge  in 

music,   for  which   it  seems  he  had  a  natural  taste,  arid  he 

I  learned  to  play  well  on  the  viokn  and  on  the  flute.     From 

music  he  passed  to  books,  and,  having  procured  a  few  light 


PATRICK    HENRY.  27 

and  elegant  authors,  acquired,  for  the  first  time,  a  relish  for 
reading. 

He  found  another  relief,  too,  in  the  frequent  opportunities 
now  afforded  him  of  pursuing  his  favourite  study  of  the  hu»  </ 
man  character.  The  character  of  every  customer  underwent 
this  scrutiny;  and  that,  not  with  reference  either  to  the  in 
tegrity  or  solvency  of  the  individual,  in  which  one  would 
suppose  that  Mr.  Henry  would  feel  himself  most  interested ; 
but  in  relation  to  the  structure  of  his  mind,  the  general  cast 4 
of  his  opinions,  the  motives  and  principles  which  influenced 
his  actions,  and  what  may  be  called  the  philosophy  of  char 
acter.  In  pursuing  these  investigations,  he  is  said  to  have 
resorted  to  arts,  apparently  so  far  above  his  years,  and  which 
looked  so  much  like  an  afterthought,  resulting  from  his  future 
eminence,  that  I  should  hesitate  to  make  the  statement,  were 
it  not  attested  by  so  many  witnesses,  and  by  some  who  can 
not  be  suspected  of  the  capacity  for  having  fabricated  the 
fact.  Their  account  of  it,  then,  is  this : — that  whenever  a 
company  of  his  customers  met  in  the  store,  (which  frequently 
happened  on  the  last  day  of  the  week,)  and  were  themselves 
sufficiently  gay  and  animated  to  talk  and  act  as  nature 
prompted,  without  concealment,  without  reserve,  he  would 
take  no  part  in  their  discussions,  but  listen  with  a  silence  as 
deep  and  attentive  as  if  under  the  influence  of  some  potent 
charm.  If,  on  the  contrary,  they  were  dull  and  silent,  he 
would,  without  betraying  his  drift,  task  himself  to  set  them 
in  motion,  and  excite  them  to  remark,  collision,  and  ex 
clamation.  He  was  peculiarly  delighted  with  comparing 
their  characters,  and  ascertaining  how  they  would  severally  I 
act  in  given  situations..  With  this  view  he  would  state  a 
hypothetic  case,  and  call  for  their  opinions,  one  by  one,  as  to 


C3  WIRT  S    LIFE    OF 

the  conduct  which  would  be  proper  in  it.  If  they  differed, 
he  would  demand  their  reasons,  and  enjoy  highly  the  de 
bates  in  which  he  would  thus  involve  them.  By  multiply 
ing  and  varying  those  imaginary  cases  at  pleasure,  he  as 
certained  the  general  course  of  human  opinion,  and  formed, 
for  himself,  as  it  were,  a  graduated  scale  of  the  motives  and 
conduct  which  are  natural  to  man.  Sometimes  he  would 
entertain  them  with  stories,  gathered  from  his  reading,  or, 
as  was  more  frequently  the  case,  drawn  from  his  own  fancy, 
composed  of  heterogeneous  circumstances,  calculated  to  ex 
cite,  by  turns,  pity,  terror,  resentment,  indignation,  contempt; 
pausing,  in  the  turns  of  his  narrative,  to  observe  the  effect; 
to  watch  the  different  modes  in  which  the  passions  expressed 
themselves,  and  learn  the  language  of  emotion  from  those 
children  of  nature. 

In  these  exercises,  Mr.  Henry  could  have  had  nothing  in 
view  beyond  the  present  gratification  of  a  natural  propensity. 
The  advantages  of  them,  however,  were  far  more  perma 
nent,  and  gave  the  brightest  colours  to  his  future  life.     For 
those  continual  efforts  to  render  himself  intelligible  to  his 
plain  and  unlettered  hearers,  on  subjects  entirely  new  to 
them,  taught  him  that  clear  and  simple  style  which  forms 
••  the  best  vehicle  of  thought  to  a  popular  assembly;  while  his 
attempts  to  interest  and  affect  them,  in  order  that  he  might 
hear  from  them  the  echo  of  nature's  voice,  instructed  him  in 
those  topics  of  persuasion  by  which  men  were  the  most  cer 
tainly  to  be  moved,  and  in  the  kind  of  imagery  and  structure 
of  language,  which  were  the  best  fitted  to  strike  and  agitate 
^L    their  hearts.    These  constituted  his  excellencies  as  an  orator; 
/[  and  never  was  there  a  man,  in  any  age,  who  possessed,  in  a 
^  more  eminent  degree,  the  lucid  and  nervous  style  of  argu- 


PATRICK    HENRY.  29 

r  I  ment,  the  command  of  the  most  beautiful  and  striking  im 
agery,  or  that  language  of  passion  which  burns  from  soul 
to  soul. 

In  the  meantime,  the  business  of  the  store  was  rushing 
headlong  to  its  catastrophe.  One  year  put  an  end  to  it. 
William  was  then  thrown  loose  upon  society,  to  which  he 
was  never  afterward  usefully  attached;*  and  Patrick  was 
engaged  for  the  two  or  three  following  years,  in  winding  up 
this  disastrous  experiment  as  well  as  he  could. 

His  misfortunes,  however,  seem  not  to  have  had  the  effect 
either  of  teaching  him  prudence  or  of  chilling  his  affections. 
For,  at  the  early  age  of  eighteen,  we  find  him  married  to  a 
Miss  Shelton,  the  daughter  of  an  honest  farmer  in  the  neigh 
bourhood,  but  in  circumstances  too  poor  to  contribute  effec 
tually  to  her  support.  By  the  joint  assistance  of  their  parents, 
however,  the  young  couple  were  settled  on  a  small  farm,  and 
here,  with  the  assistance  of  one  or  two  slaves,  Mr.  Henry  had 
to  delve  the  earth,  with  his  own  hands,  for  subsistence.  Such 
are  the  vicissitudes  of  human  life !  It  is  curious  to  contem 
plate  this  giant  genius,  destined  in  a  few  years  to  guide  the 
councils  of  a  mighty  nation,  but  unconscious  of  the  intellec 
tual  treasures  which  he  possessed,  encumbered,  at  the  early 
age  of  eighteen,  with  the  cares  of  a  family;  obscure,  un 
known,  and  almost  unpitied;  digging,  with  wearied  limbs 

*  I  have  seen  an  original  letter  from  Col.  John  Henry  to  his  son 
William,  in  which  he  remonstrates  with  him  on  his  wild  and  dissipa 
ted  course  of  life.  There  is  reason  to  believe,  however,  that  at  a  later 
period,  he  may  have  reformed,  since  a  gentleman,  to  whom  the  manu 
script  of  this  work  was  submitted,  notes  on  this  passage,  that  when 
he  was  at  college  at  Williamsburg,  he  recollects  to  have  seen  Wil 
liam  Henry  a  member  of  the  assembly,  from  the  county  of  Fluvanna ; 
that  he  was  called  colonel,  and  was,  he  afterward  understood,  pretty 
well  provided  as  to  fortune. 

3" 


30  WIRT'S    LIFE    OF 

and  with  an  aching  heart,  a  small  spot  of  barren  earth,  for 
bread,  and  blessing  the  hour  of  night  which  relieved  him 
from  toil.  Little  could  the  wealthy  and  great  of  the  land, 
as  they  rolled  along  the  highway  in  splendour,  and  beheld 
the  young  rustic  at  work  in  the  coarse  garb  of  a  labourer, 
covered  with  dust  and  melting  in  the  sun,  have  suspected 
that  this  was  the  man  who  was  destined  not  only  to  humble 
their  pride,  but  to  make  the  prince  himself  tremble  on  his 
distant  throne,  and  to  shake  the  brightest  jewels  from  the 
British  crown.  Little,  indeed,  could  he  himself  have  sus 
pected  it;  for  amidst  the  distresses  which  thickened  around 
him  at  this  time,  and  threatened  him  not  only  with  obscurity 
but  with  famine,  no  hopes  came  to  cheer  the  gloom,  nor  did 
their  remain  to  him  any  earthly  consolation,  save  that  which 
he  found  in  the  bosom  of  his  own  family.  Fortunately  for 
him,  there  never  was  a  heart  which  felt  this  consolation  with 
greater  force.  No  man  ever  possessed  the  domestic  virtues 
in  a  higher  degree,  or  enjoyed,  more  exquisitely,  those  pure 
delights  which  flow  from  the  endearing  relations  of  conjugal 
life. 

Mr.  Henry's  want  of  agricultural  skill,  and  his  uncon 
querable  aversion  to  every  species  of  systematic  labour,  drove 
him,  necessarily,  after  a  trial  of  two  years,  to  abandon  this 
pursuit  altogether.  His  next  step  seems  to  have  been  dictated 
by  absolute  despair ;  for,  selling  off  his  little  possessions,  at  a 
sacrifice  for  cash,  he  entered,  a  second  time,  on  the  inauspi 
cious  business  of  merchandise.  Perhaps  he  flattered  himself 
that  he  would  be  able  to  profit  by  his  past  experience,  and 
conduct  this  experiment  to  a  more  successful  issue.  But 
if  he  did  so,  he  deceived  himself.  He  soon  found  that  he  had 
not  changed  his  character,  by  changing  his  pursuits.  His 
early  habits  still  continued  to  haunt  him.  The  same  want 


PATRICK    HENRY.  31 

of  method,  the  same  facility  of  temper,  soon  became  apparent 
by  their  ruinous  effects.  He  resumed  his  violin,  his  flute, 
his  books,  his  curious  inspection  of  human  nature ;  and  not 
unfrequently  ventured  to  shut  up  his  store,  and  indulge  him 
self  in  the  favourite  sports  of  his  youth. 

His  reading,  however,  began  to  assume  a  more  serious 
character.  He  studied  geography,  in  which  it  is  said  that  he 
became  an  adept.  He  read,  also,  the  charters  and  history 
of  the  colony.  He  became  fond  of  historical  works  generally, 
particularly  those  of  Greece  and  Rome ;  and,  from  the  tena 
city  of  his  memory  and  the  strength  of  his  judgment,  soon 
made  himself  a  perfect  master  of  their  contents.  Livy  was 
his  favourite ;  and  having  procured  a  translation,  he  became 
so  much  enamoured  of  the  work,  that  he  made  it  a  standing 
rule  to  read  it  through,  once  at  least,  in  every  year,  during 
the  early  part  of  his  life.*  The  grandeur  of  the  Roman 
character,  so  beautifully  exhibited  by  Livy,  filled  him  with 
surprise  and  admiration;  and  he  was  particularly  enraptured 
with  those  vivid  descriptions  and  eloquent  harangues  with 
which  the  work  abounds.  Fortune  could  scarcely  have 
thrown  in  his  way,  a  book  better  fitted  to  foster  his  repub 
lican  spirit,  and  awaken  the  still  dormant  powers  of  his  ge 
nius  ;  and  it  seems  not  improbable,  that  the  lofty  strain  in 
which  he  himself  afterward  both  spoke  and  acted,  was,  if 
not  originally  inspired,  at  least  highly  raised,  by  the  noble 
models  set  before  him  by  this  favourite  author. 

This  second  mercantile  experiment  was  still  more  un 
fortunate  than  the  first.  In  a  few  years  it  left  him  a  bank 
rupt,  and  placed  him  in  a  situation  than  which  it  is  difficult 
to  conceive  one  more  wretched.  Every  atom  of  his  property 


*/udge  Nelson  had  this  statement  from  Mr.  Henry  himself. 
/  ^    Z  ~"~*  -    ~ 


32  WIRT'S    LIFE    OF 

was  now  gone,  his  friends  were  unable  to  assist  him  any 
further;  he  had  tried  every  means  of  support,  of  which  he 
could  suppose  himself  capable,  and  every  one  had  failed ; 
ruin  was  behind  him ;  poverty,  debt,  want,  and  famine,  be 
fore;  and,  as  if  his  cup  of  misery  were  not  already  full 
enough,  here  were  a  suffering  wife  and  children  to  make  it 
overflow. 

But  with  all  his  acuteness  of  feeling,  Mr.  Henry  possessed 
great  native  firmness  of  character;  and,  let  me  add,  great 
reliance,  too,  on  that  unseen  arm  which  never  long  deserts 
the  faithful.  Thus  supported,  he  was  able  to  bear  up  under 
the  heaviest  pressure  of  misfortune,  and  even  to  be  cheerful, 
under  circumstances  which  would  sink  most  other  men  into 
despair. 

It  was  at  this  period  of  his  fortunes,  that  Mr.  Jefferson  be 
came  acquainted  with  him;  and  the  reader,  I  am  persuaded, 
will  be  gratified  with  that  gentleman's  own  account  of  it. 
These  are  his  words  : — "  My  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Henry 
commenced  in  the  winter  of  1759-60.  On  my  way  to  the 
college,  I  passed  the  Christmas-holydays  at  Col.  Dandridge's, 
in  Hanover,  to  whom  Mr.  Henry  was  a  near  neighbour. 
During  the  festivity  of  the  season,  I  met  him  in  society  every 
day,  and  we  became  well  acquainted,  although  I  was  much 
his  junior,  being  then  in  my  seventeenth  year,  and  he  a  mar 
ried  man.  His  manners  had  something  of  coarseness  in 
them ;  his  passion  was  music,  dancing,  and  pleasantry.  He 
excelled  in  the  last,  and  it  attached  every  one  to  him.  You 
ask  some  account  of  his  mind  and  information  at  this  period ; 
but  you  will  recollect  that  we  were  almost  continually  en 
gaged  in  the  usual  revelries  of  the  season.  The  occasion, 
perhaps,  as  much  as  his  idle  disposition,  prevented  his  en 
gaging  in  any  conversation  which  might  give  the  measure 


PATRICK    HENRY.  33 

either  of  his  mind  or  information.  Opportunity  was  not,  in 
deed,  wholly  wanting;  because  Mr.  John  Campbell  was 
there,  who  had  married  Mrs.  Spotswood,  the  sister  of  Col. 
Dandridge.  He  was  a  man  of  science,  and  often  introduced 
conversation  on  scientific  subjects.  Mr.  Henry  had,  a  little 
before,  broken  up  his  store,  or  rather  it  had  broken  him  up ; 
but  his  misfortunes  were  not  to  be  traced,  either  in  his  coun-  ** 
tenance  or  conduct." 

This  cheerfulness  of  spirit,  under  a  reverse  of  fortune  so\ 
severe,  is  certainly  a  very  striking  proof  of  the  manliness  of  \ 
his  character.     It  is  not,  indeed,  easy  to  conceive  that  a  mind  ' 
like  Mr.  Henry's  could  finally  sink  under  any  pressure  of 
adversity.     Such  a  mind,  although  it  may  not  immediately  , 
perceive  whither  to  direct  its  efforts,  must  always  possess  a  \ 
consciousness  of  power  sufficient  to  buoy  it  above  despon 
dency.     But,  be  this  as  it  may,  of  Mr.  Henry  it  was  certain 
ly  true,  as  Dr.   Johnson   has   observed  of  Swift,  that  "he 
was  not  one  of  those  who,  having  lost  one  part  of  life  in 
idleness,   are   tempted   to   throw    away   the    remainder   in 
despair." 

It  seems  to  be  matter  of  surprise,  that  even  yet,  amidst 
all  those  various  struggles  for  subsistence,  the  powers  of  his 
mind  had  not  so  far  developed  themselves  as  to  suggest  to 
any  friend  the  pursuit  for  which  he  was  formed.  He  seems 
to  have  been  a  plant  of  slow  growth;  but,  like  other  plants 
of  that  nature,  formed  for  duration,  and  fitted  to  endure  the 
bufferings  of  the  rudest  storm. 

It  was  now,  when  all  other  experiments  had  failed,  that,  ^ 
as  a  last  effort,  he  determined,  of  his  own  accord,  to  make  a' 
trial  of  the  law.     No  one  expected  him  to  succeed  in  any 
eminent  degree.     His  unfortunate  habits  were,  by  no  means, 
suited  to  so  laborious  a  profession :  and  even  if  it  were  not 
E 


\ 


34  WIRT'S   LIFE   OF 

too  late  in  life  for  him  to  hope  to  master  its  learning,  the 
situation  of  his  affairs  forbade  an  extensive  course  of  reading. 
In  addition  to  these  obstacles,  the  business  of  the  profession, 
in  that  quarter,  was  already  in  hands  from  which  it  was  not 
easily  to  be  taken ;  for  (to  mention  no  others)  Judge  Lyons, 
the  late  president  of  the  court  of  appeals,  was  then  at  the  bar 
of  Hanover,  and  the  adjacent  counties,  with  an  unrivalled 
reputation  for  legal  learning ;  and  Mr.  John  Lewis,  a  man, 
also,  of  very  respectable  legal  attainments,  occupied  the 
whole  field  of  forensic  eloquence.  Mr.  Henry  himself  seems 
to  have  hoped  for  nothing  more  from  the  profession  than  a 
scanty  subsistence  for  himself  and  his  family,  and  his  pre 
paration  was  suited  to  these  humble  expectations ;  for  to  the 
study  of  a  profession,  which  is  said  to  require  the  lucubrations 
of  twenty  years,  Mr.  Henry  devoted  not  more  than  six  weeks.* 
On  this  preparation,  however,  he  obtained  a  license  to  prac 
tise  the  law.  How  he  passed  with  two  of  the  examiners,  I 
have  no  intelligence ;  but  he  himself  used  to  relate  his  inter 
view  with  the  third.  This  was  no  other  than  Mr.  John  Ran 
dolph,  who  was  afterward  the  king's  attorney-general  for  the 
colony ;  a  gentleman  of  the  most  courtly  elegance  of  person 
and  manners,  a  polished  wit,  and  a  profound  lawyer.  At 
first,  he  was  so  much  shocked  by  Mr.  Henry's  very  ungainly 
figure  and  address,  that  he  refused  to  examine  him :  under 
standing,  however,  that  he  had  already  obtained  two  signa 
tures,  he  entered,  with  manifest  reluctance,  on  the  business. 
A  very  short  time  was  sufficient  to  satisfy  him  of  the  erro 
neous  conclusion  which  he  had  drawn  from  the  exterior  of 

*  So  say  Mr.  Jefferson  and  Judge  Winston.  Mr.  Pope  says  nine 
months.  Col.  Meredith  and  Capt.  Dabney,  six  or  eight  months.  Judge 
Tyler,  one  month ;  and  he  adds:  "  This  I  had  from  his  own  lips.  In 
this  time,  he  read  Coke  upon  Littleton,  and  the  Virginia  laws." 


PATRICK    HENRY.  35 

the  candidate.  With  evident  marks  of  increasing  surprise,  N 
(produced  no  doubt  by  the  peculiar  texture  and  strength  of  \ 
Mr.  Henry's  style,  and  the  boldness  and  originality  of  his 
combinations,)  he  continued  the  examination  for  several 
hours :  interrogating  the  candidate,  not  on  the  principles  of 
municipal  law,  in  which  he  no  doubt  soon  discovered  his 
deficiency,  but  on  the  laws  of  nature  and  of  nations,  on  the 
policy  of  the  feudal  system,  and  on  general  history,  which 
last  he  found  to  be  his  stronghold.  During  the  very  short 
portion  of  the  examination  which  was  devoted  to  the  common 
law,  Mr.  Randolph  dissented,  or  affected  to  dissent,  from  one 
of  Mr.  Henry's  answers,  and  called  upon  him  to  assign  the 
reasons  of  his  opinion.  This  produced  an  argument;  and 
Mr.  Randolph  now  played  off  on  him  the  same  arts  which 
he  himself  had  so  often  practised  on  his  country  customers ; 
drawing  him  out  by  questions,  endeavouring  to  puzzle  him 
by  subtleties,  assailing  him  with  declamation,  and  watching 
continually  the  defensive  operations  of  his  mind.  After  a 
considerable  discussion,  he  said :  "  You  defend  your  opinions  x 
well,  sir ;  but  now  to  the  law  and  to  the  testimony."  Here 
upon,  he  carried  him  to  his  office,  and  opening  the  authori 
ties,  said  to  him  :  "  Behold  the  face  of  natural  reason ;  you 
have  never  seen  these  books,  nor  this  principle  of  the  law  ; 
yet  you  are  right  and  I  am  wrong;  and  from  the  lesson 
which  you  have  given  me  (you  must  excuse  me  for  saying 
it)  I  will  never  trust  to  appearances  again.  Mr.  Henry,  if 
your  industry  be  only  half  equal  to  your  genius,  I  augur  that 
you  will  do  well,  and  become  an  ornament  and  an  honour 
to  your  profession."  It  was  always  Mr.  Henry's  belief  that 
Mr.  Randolph  had  affected  this  difference  of  opinion,  merely 
to  afford  him  the  pleasure  of  a  triumph,  and  to  make  some 
atonement  for  the  wound  which  his  first  repulse  had  inflicted. 


36  WIRT'S   LIFE  OP 

Be  this  as  it  may,  the  interview  was  followed  by  the  most  mark 
ed  and  permanent  respect  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Randolph,  and  the 
most  sincere  good-will  and  gratitude  on  that  of  Mr.  Henry.* 

It  was  at  the  age  of  four  and  twenty  that  Mr.  Henry  ob 
tained  his  license.  Of  the  science  of  law,  he  knew  almost 
nothing:  of  the  practical  part  he  was  so  wholly  ignorant, 
that  he  was  not  only  unable  to  draw  a  declaration  or  a  plea, 
but  incapable,  it  is  said,  of  the  most  common  or  simple 
business  of  his  profession,  even  of  the  mode  of  ordering  a  suit, 
giving  a  notice,  or  making  a  motion  in  court.  It  is  not  at 
all  wonderful,  therefore,  that  such  a  novice,  opposed  as  he 
was  by  veterans,  covered  with  the  whole  armour  of  the  law, 
should  linger  in  the  background  for  three  years.! 

During  this  time,  the  wants  and  distresses  of  his  family 

*  This  account  of  Mr.  Henry's  examination  is  given  by  Judge  Ty 
ler,  who  states  it  as  having  come  from  Mr.  Henry  himself.  It  was  writ 
ten  before  I  had  received  the  following  statement  from  Mr.  Jefferson  ; 
and  although  there  is  some  difference  in  the  circumstances,  it  has  not 
been  thought  important  enough  to  make  an  alteration  of  the  text  neces 
sary.  This  is  Mr.  Jefferson's  statement : — "  In  the  spring  of  1760,  he 
came  to  Williamsburg  to  obtain  a  license  as  a  lawyer,  and  he  called 
on  me  at  college.  He  told  me  he  had  been  reading  law  only  six  weeks. 
Two  of  the  examiners,  however,  Peyton  and  John  Randolph,  men  of 
great  facility  of  temper,  signed  his  license  with  as  much  reluctance 
as  their  dispositions  would  permit  them  to  show.  Mr.  Wythe  abso 
lutely  refused.  Robert  C.  Nicholas  refused  also  at  first ;  but,  on  re 
peated  importunities  and  promises  of  future  reading,  he  signed. 
These  facts  I  had  afterward  from  the  gentlemen  themselves  ;  the  two 
Randolphs  acknowledging  he  was  very  ignorant  of  the  law,  but  that 
they  perceived  him  to  be  a  young  man  of  genius,  and  did  not  doubt 
that  he  would  soon  qualify  himself." 

I  "  He  was  not  distinguished  at  the  bar  for  near  four  years." — Judge 
Winston  :  yet  Mr.  Burk  intimates  that  he  took  the  lead  in  his  pro- 
tession  at  once.— Vol.  3d,  301. 


PATRICK    HENRY.  37 

were  extreme.  The  profits  of  his  practice  could  not  have 
supplied  them  even  with  the  necessaries  of  life ;  and  he  seems 
to  have  spent  the  greatest  part  of  his  time,  both  of  his  study 
of  the  law  and  the  practice  of  the  first  two  or  three  years, 
with  his  father-in-law,  Mr.  Shelton,  who  then  kept  the  tavern 
at  Hanover  court-house.  Whenever  Mr.  Shelton  was  from 
home,  Mr.  Henry  supplied  his  place  in  the  tavern,  received 
the  guests,  and  attended  to  their  entertainment.  All  this 
was  very  natural  in  Mr.  Henry's  situation,  and  seems  to  have  '- 
been  purely  the  voluntary  movement  of  his  naturally  kind 
and  obliging  disposition.  Hence,  however,  a  story  has  arisen, 
that  in  the  early  part  of  his  life,  he  was  a  barkeeper  by  pro 
fession.  The  fact  seems  not  to  have  been  so :  but  if  it  had 
been,  it  would  certainly  have  redounded  much  more  to  his 
honour  than  to  his  discredit;  for  as  Mr.  Henry  owed  no 
part  of  his  distinction  either  to  birth  or  fortune,  but  wholly 
to  himself,  the  deeper  the  obscurity  and  poverty  from  which 
he  emerged,  the  stronger  is  the  evidence  which  it  bears  to  his 
powers,  and  the  greater  glory  does  it  shed  around  him. 

About  the  time  of  Mr.  Henry's  coming  to  the  bar,  a  con 
troversy  arose  in  Virginia,  which  gradually  produced  a  very 
strong  excitement,  and  called  to  it,  at  length,  the  attention 
of  the  whole  state. 

This  was  the  ^famous  controversy  between  the  clergy  on  / 
the  one  hand,  and  the  legislature  of  the  people  of  the  colony 
on  the  other,  touching  the  stipend  claimed  by  the  former : 
and  as  this  was  the  occasion  on  which  Mr.  Henry's  genius 
first  broke  forth,  those  who  take  an  interest  in  his  life,  will 
not  be  displeased  by  a  particular  account  of  the  nature  and 
grounds  of  the  dispute.  It  will  be  borne  in  mind,  that  the 
church  of  England  was  at  this  period  the  established  church 
of  Virginia ;  and  by  an  act  of  assembly,  passed  so  far  back 

4 


38  WIRT'S    LIFE     OF 

as  the  year  1696,  each  minister  of  a  parish  had  been  provided 
with  an  annual  stipend  of  sixteen  thousand  pounds  of  to 
bacco.  This  act  was  re-enacted,  with  amendments,  in  1748, 
and  in  this  form  had  received  the  royal  assent.  The  price 
of  tobacco  had  long  remained  stationary  at  two  pence  in  the 
pound,  or  sixteen  shillings  and  eight  pence  per  hundred. 
According  to  the  provisions  of  the  law,  the  clergy  had  the 
right  to  demand,  and  were  in  the  practice  of  receiving,  pay 
ment  of  their  stipend  in  the  specific  tobacco ;  unless  they 
chose,  for  convenience,  to  commute  it  for  money  at  the  mar 
ket-price.  In  the  year  1755,  however,  the  crop  of  tobacco 
having  fallen  short,  the  legislature  passed  "  an  act  to  enable 
the  inhabitants  of  this  colony  to  discharge  their  tobacco-debts 
in  money  for  the  present  year :"  by  the  provisions  of  which, 
"  all  persons,  from  whom  any  tobacco  was  due,  were  author 
ized  to  pay  the  same  either  in  tobacco  or  in  money,  after 
the  rate  of  sixteen  shillings  and  eight  pence  per  hundred, 
at  the  option  of  the  debtor"  This  act  was  to  continue  in 
force  for  ten  months  and  no  longer,  and  did  not  contain  the 
usual  clause  of  suspension,  until  it  should  receive  the  royal 
assent.  Whether  the  scarcity  of  tobacco  was  so  general  and 
so  notorious,  as  to  render  this  act  a  measure  of  obvious  hu 
manity  and  necessity,  or  whether  the  clergy  were  satisfied 
by  its  generality,  since  it  embraced  sheriffs,  clerks,  attorneys, 
and  all  other  tobacco-creditors,  as  well  as  themselves,  or 
whether  they  acquiesced  in  it  as  a  temporary  expedient,  which 
they  supposed  not  likely  to  be  repeated,  it  is  certain,  that  no 
objection  was  made  to  the  law  at  that  time.  They  could 
not,  indeed,  have  helped  observing  the  benefits  which  the 
rich  planters  derived  from  the  act ;  for  they  were  receiving 
from  fifty  to  sixty  shillings  per  hundred  for  their  tobacco, 
while  they  paid  off  their  debts,  due  in  that  article,  at  the  old 


PATRICK    HENRY.  39 

price  of  sixteen  shillings  and  eight  pence.  Nothing,  how 
ever,  was  then  said  in  defence  either  of  the  royal  prerogative 
or  of  the  rights  of  the  clergy,  but  the  law  was  permitted  to 
go  peaceably  through  its  ten  months'  operation.  The  great 
tobacco-planters  had  not  forgotten  the  fruits  of  this  act,  when, 
in  the  year  1758,  upon  a  surmise  that  another  short  crop 
was  likely  to  occur,  the  provisions  of  the  act  of  1755  were 
re-enacted,  and  the  new  law,  like  the  former,  contained  no 
suspending  clause.  The  crop,  as  had  been  anticipated,  did 
fall  short,  and  the  price  of  tobacco  rose  immediately  from 
sixteen  and  eight  pence  to  fifty  shillings  per  hundred.  The 
clergy  now  took  the  alarm,  and  the  act  was  assailed  by  an 
indignant,  sarcastic,  and  vigorous  pamphlet,  entitled,  "  The 
Two-Penny  Act "  from  the  pen  of  the  Rev.  John  Camm, 
the  rector  of  York-Hampton  parish,  and  the  Episcopalian 
commissary  for  the  colony.*  He  was  answered  by  two 
pamphlets,  written,  the  one  by  Col.  Richard  Bland,  and  the 
other  by  Col.  Landon  Carter,  in  both  which  the  commissary 
was  very  roughly  handled.  He  replied,  in  a  still  severer 
pamphlet,  under  the  ludicrous  title  of  "The  Colonels 
Dismounted."  The  Colonels  rejoined;  and  this  war  of 
pamphlets,  in  which,  with  some  sound  argument,  there 
was  a  great  deal  of  what  Dryden  has  called  "  the  horse 
play  of  raillery,"  was  kept  up,  until  the  whole  colony, 
which  had  at  first  looked  on  for  amusement,  kindled  seri 
ously  in  the  contest  from  motives  of  interest.  Such  was 
the  excitement  produced  by  the  discussion,  and  at  length  so 
strong  the  current  against  the  clergy,  that  the  printers  found 

*  The  governor  of  Virginia  represented  the  king;  the  council,  the 
house  of  lords  ;  and  the  Episcopalian  commissary  (a  member  of  the 
council)  represented  the  spiritual  part  of  that  house ;  the  house  of 
burgesses  was,  of  course,  the  house  of  commons. 


40  WIRT'SLIFEOF 

it  expedient  to  shut  their  presses  against  them  in  this  colony, 
and  Mr.  Camm  had  at  last  to  resort  to  Maryland  for  publi 
cation.  These  pamphlets  are  still  extant ;  and  it  seems  im 
possible  to  deny,  at  this  day,  that  the  clergy  had  much  the 
best  of  the  argument.  The  king  in  his  council  took  up  the 
subject,  denounced  the  act  of  1758  as  a  usurpation,  and 
declared  it  utterly  null  and  void.  Thus  supported,  the  clergy 
resolved  to  bring  the  question  to  a  judicial  test ;  and  suits 
were  accordingly  brought  by  them,  in  the  various  county 
courts  of  the  colony,  to  recover  their  stipends  in  the  specific 
tobacco.  They  selected  the  county  of  Hanover  as  the  place 
of  the  first  experiment ;  and  this  was  made  in  a  suit  insti 
tuted  by  the  Rev.  James  Maury,*  against  the  collector  of  that 
county  and  his  suretiesv  The  record  of  this  suit  is  now  be- 
Jore  me.  The  declaration  is  founded  on  the  act  of  1748, 
which  gives  the  tobacco ;  the  defendants  pleaded  specially  the 
act  of  1758,  which  authorizes  the  commutation  into  money, 
at  sixteen  and  eight  pence ;  to  this  plea  the  plaintiff  demur 
red  ;  assigning  for  causes  of  demurrer,  first,  that  the  act  of 
1758,  not  having  received  the  royal  assent,  had  not  the  force 
of  a  law ;  and,  secondly,  that  the  king,  in  council,  had  de 
clared  the  act  null  and  void.  The  case  stood  for  argument 
on  the  demurrer  to  the  November  term,  1763,  and  was  argu 
ed  by  Mr.  Lyons  for  the  plaintiff,  and  Mr.  John  Lewis  for  the 
defendants ;  when  the  court,  very  much  to  the  credit  of  their 

*  Mr.  Burk  (vol.  3d,  page  303)  makes  the  Rev.  Patrick  Henry  the 
plaintiff  in  this  cause  ;  in  this  he  is  corrected  by  the  records  of  the 
county.  Mr.  Burk  also  sets  down  "  The  Two-Penny  Act,"  to  the 
speculations  of  a  man  by  the  name  of  Dickinson ;  in  this  he  is  confu 
ted  by  the  act  itself;  the  preamble  expressly  founding  it  on  the  short 
ness  of  the  crop. 


PATRICK    HENRY.  41 

candour  and  firmness,  breasted  the  popular  current  by  sus 
taining  the  demurrer.  Thus  far,  the  clergy  sailed  before  the 
wind,  and  concluded,  with  good  reasoh,  that  their  triumph 
was  complete  :  for  the  act  of  1758  having  been  declared  void 
by  the  judgment  on  the  demurrer,  that  of  1748  was  left  in 
full  force,  and  became,  in  law,  the  only  standard  for  the  find 
ing  of  the  jury.  Mr.  Lewis  was  so  thoroughly  convinced  of 
this,  that  he  retired  from  the  cause ;  informing  his  clients 
that  il  had  been,  in  effect,  decided  against  them,  and  that 
there  remained  nothing  more  for  him  to  do.  In  this  despe 
rate  situation,  they  applied  to  Patrick  Henry,  and  he  under 
took  to  argue  it  for  them  before  a  jury,  at  the  ensuing  term. 
Accordingly,  on  the  first  day  of  the  following  December,  he 
attended  the  court,  and,  on  his  arrival,  found  in  the  court 
yard  such  a  concourse  as  would  luave  appalled  any  other 
man  in  his  situation.  They  were  not  the  people  of  the 
county  merely  who  were  there,  but  visiters  from  all  the 
counties,  to  a  considerable  distance  around.  The  decision 
upon  the  demurrer  had  produced  a  violent  ferment  among 
the  people,  and  equal  exultation  on  the  part  of  the  clergy ; 
who  attended  the  court  in  a  large  body,  either  to  look  down 
opposition,  or  to  enjoy  the  final  triumph  of  this  hard-fought 
contest,  which  they  now  considered  as  perfectly  secure. 
Among  many  other  clergymen,  who  attended  on  this  occa 
sion,  came  the  Reverend  Patrick  Henry,  who  was  the  plain 
tiff  in  another  cause  of  the  same  nature,  then  depending  in 
court.  When  Mr.  Henry  saw  his  uncle  approach,  he  walked 
up  to  his  carriage,  accompanied  by  Col.  Meredith,  and  ex 
pressed  his  regret  at  seeing  him  there.  "Why  so  ?"  inquired 
the  uncle.  "  Because,  sir,"  said  Mr.  Henry,  "you  know  that 
1  have  never  yet  spoken  in  public,  and  I  fear  that  I  shall  be 
F  4* 


42  WIRT'S    LIFE    OF 


too  much  overawed  by  your  presence,  to  be  able  to  do  my 
duty  to  my  clients  ;  besides,  sir,  I  shall  be  obliged  to  say  some 
/  hard  things  of  the  clergy,  and  I  am  very  unwilling  to  give 
pain  to  your  feelings."  His  uncle  reproved  him  for  having 
engaged  in  the  cause ;  which  Mr.  Henry  excused  by  saying, 
that  the  clergy  had  not  thought  him  worthy  of  being  retained 
on  their  side,  and  he  knew  of  no  moral  principle  by  which 
he  was  bound  to  refuse  a  fee  from  their  adversaries  ;  besides, 
he  confessed,  that  in  this  controversy,  both  his  heart  and 

\f  judgment,  as  well  as  his  professional  duty,  were  on  the  side 
of  the  people ;  he  then  requested  that  his  uncle  would  do 
him  the  favour  to  leave  the  ground.  "  Why,  Patrick,"  said 
the  old  gentleman,  with  a  good-natured  smile,  "  as  to  your 
saying  hard  things  of  the  clergy,  I  advise  you  to  let  that 
alone  :  take  my  word  for  it,  you  will  do  yourself  more  harm 
than  you  will  them ;  and  as  to  my  leaving  the  ground,  I 
fear,  my  boy,  that  my  presence  could  neither  do  you  harm 
nor  good  in  such  a  cause.  However,  since  you  seem  to 
think  otherwise,  and  desire  it  of  me  so  earnestly,  you  shall 
be  gratified."  Whereupon,  he  entered  his  carriage  again,  and 
returned  home. 

Soon  after  the  opening  of  the  court,  the  cause  was  called. 
It  stood  on  a  writ  of  inquiry  of  damages,  no  plea  having  been 
entered  by  the  defendants  since  the  judgment  on  the  demur 
rer.  The  array  before  Mr.  Henry's  eyes  was  now  most  fear 
ful.  On  the  bench  sat  more  than  twenty  clergymen,  the 
most  learned  men  in  the  colony,  and  the  most  capable,  as 

j  well  as  the  severest,  critics  before  whom  it  was  possible  for 
him  to  have  made  his  debut.  The  court-house  was  crowded 
with  an  overwhelming  multitude,  and  surrounded  with  an 
immense  and  anxious  throng,  who,  not  finding  room  to  enter, 


PATRICK    HENRY  43 

wore  endeavouring  to  listen  without,  in  the  deepest  attention- 
But  there  was  something  still  more  awfully  disconcerting 
than  all  this ;  for  in  the  chair  of  the  presiding  magistrate 
sat  no  other  person  than  his  own  father.  Mr.  Lyons  opened 
the  cause  very  briefly :  in  the  way  of  argument  he  did  no 
thing  more  than  explain  to  the  jury,  that  the  decision  upon 
the  demurrer  had  put  the  act  of  1758  entirely  out  of  the  way, 
and  left  the  law  of  1748  as  the  only  standard  of  their  dama 
ges  ;  he  then  concluded  with  a  highly-wrought  eulogium 
on  the  benevolence  of  the  clergy.  And  now  came  on  the 
first  trial  of  Patrick  Henry's  strength.  No  one  had  ever 
heard  him  speak,  and  curiosity  was  on  tiptoe.  He  rose  very 
awkwardly,  and  faltered  much  in  his  exordium.  The  peo 
ple  hung  their  heads  at  so  unpromising  a  commencement  ;i; 
the  clergy  were  observed  to  exchange  sly  looks  with  each 
other;  and  his  father  is  described  as  having  almost  sunk 
with  confusion  from  his  seat.  But  these  feelings  were  of 
short  duration,  and  soon  gave  place  to  others,  of  a  very  dif 
ferent  character.  For  now  were  those  wonderful  faculties 
which  he  possessed,  for  the  first  time,  developed ;  and  now 
was  first  witnessed  that  mysterious  and  almost  supernatural^ .___ 
transformation  of  appearance,  which  the  fire  of  his  own  elo 
quence  never  failed  to  work  in  him.  For  as  his  mind  rolled 
along,  .and  began  to  glow  from  its  own  action,  alLthe~«#!tt;zVB 
-slied  themselves  spontaneously.  His 


attitude,  by  degrees,  became  erect  and  lofty?  The  spirit  of 
his  genius  awakened  all  his  features. *  His  countenance 
shone  with  a  nobleness  and  grandeur  which  it  had  never 
before  exhibited.  There  was  a  lightning  in  his  eyes  which 
seemed  to  rive  the  spectator.  His  action  became  graceful, 
bold,  and  commanding ;  and  in  the  tones  of  his  voice,  but 


44  WIRT'S    LIFE    OF 

more  especially  in  his  emphasis,  there  was  a  peculiar  charm, 
a  magic,  of  which  any  one  who  ever  heard  him  will  speak 
as  soon  as  he  is  named,  but  of  which  no  one  can  give  any 
adequate  description.  They  can  only  say  that  it  struck 
upon  the  ear  and  upon  the  heart,  in  a  manner  which  lan 
guage  cannot  tell.  Add  to  all  these,  his  wonder-working 
fancy,  and  the  peculiar  phraseology  in  which  he  clothed  its 
images ;  for  he  painted  to  the  heart  with  a  force  that  almost 
petrified  it.  In  the  language  of  those  who  heard  him  on  this 
occasion,  "he  made  their  blood  run  cold,  and  their  hair  to 
rise  on  end." 

It  will  not  be  difficult  for  any  one  who  ever  heard  this 
most  extraordinary  man,  to  believe  the  whole  account  of  this 
transaction,  which  is  given  by  his  surviving  hearers ;  and 
from  their  account,  the  court-house  of  Hanover  county  must 
have  exhibited,  on  this  occasion,  a  scene/as  picturesque,  as 
has  been  ever  witnessed  in  real  life. //They  say  that  the 
people,  whose  countenance  had  fallen  as  he  arose,  had  heard 
but  a  very  few  sentences  before  they  began  to  look  up ;  then 
to  look  at  each  other  with  surprise,  as  if  doubting  the  evi 
dence  of  their  own  senses ;  then,  attracted  by  some  strong 
gesture,  struck  by  some  majestic  attitude,  fascinated  by  the 
spell  of  his  eye,  the  charm  of  his  emphasis,  and  the  varied 
and  commanding  expression  of  his  countenance,  they  could 
look  away  no  more.  In  less  than  twenty  minutes,  they 
might  be  seen  in  every  part  of  the  house,  on  every  bench,  in 
every  window,  stooping  forward  from  their  stands,  in  death 
like  silence ;  their  features  fixed  in  amazement  and  awe ; 
all  their  senses  listening  and  riveted  upon  the  speaker,  as  if 
to  catch  the  last  strain  of  some  heavenly  visitant.  The 
mockery  of  the  clergy  was  soon  turned  into  alarm ;  their 


PATRICK    HENRY.  45 

triumph  into  confusion  and  despair;  and  at  one  burst  of  his 
rapid  and  overwhelming  invective,  they  fled  from  the  bench 
in  precipitation  and  terror.  As  for  the  father,  such  was  his 
surprise,  such  his  amazement,  such  his  rapture,  that,  forget 
ting  where  he  was,  and  the  character  which  he  was  filling, 
tears  of  ecstasy  streamed  down  his  cheeks,  without  the  power 
or  inclination  to  repress  them.  — 


The  jury  seem  to  have  been  so  completely  bewildered,  / 
that  they  lost  sight,  not  only  of  the  act  of  1748,  but  that  of  \ 
1758  also;  for  thoughtless  even  of  the  admitted -right  of  the    \ 
plaintiff,  they  had  scarcely  left  the  bar,  when  they  returned  / 
with  a  verdict  of  one  penny  damages.     A  motion  was  made' 
for  a  new  trial ;  but  the  court,  too,  had  now  lost  the  equipoise 
of  their  judgment,  and  overruled  the  motion  by  a  unani 
mous  vote.     The  verdict  and  judgment  overruling  the  mo 
tion,  were  followed  by  redoubled  acclamations,  from  within 
and  without  the  house.     The  people,  who  had  with  diffi 
culty  kept  their  hands  off  their  champion,  from  the  moment 
of  closing  his  harangue,  no  sooner  saw  the  fate  of  the  cause 
finally  sealed,  than  they  seized  him  at  the  bar,  and  in  spite 
of  his  own  exertions,  and  the  continued  cry  of  "  order"  from 
the  sheriffs  and  the  court,  they  bore  him  out  of  the  court 
house,  and  raising  him  on  their  shoulders,  carried  him  about 
the  yard,  in  a  kind  of  electioneering  triumph. 

0  !  what  a  scene  was  this  for  a  father's  heart !  so  sudden ; 
so  unlocked  for ;  so  delightfully  overwhelming !  At  the  time, 
he  was  not  able  to  give  utterance  to  any  sentiment ;  but,  a 
few  days  after,  when  speaking  of  it  to  Mr.  Winston,*  he  said, 
with  the  most  engaging  modesty,  and  with  a  tremour  of 
voice,  which  showed  how  much  more  he  felt  than  he  express- 

*  The  present  Judge  Winston. 


46  WIRT'S    LIFE     OF 

cd,  "  Patrick  spoke  in  this  cause  near  an  hour !  and  in 
a  manner  that  surprised  me !  and  showed  himself  well-in 
formed  on  a  subject,  of  which  I  did  not  think  he  had  any 
knowledge !" 

I  have  tried  much  to  procure  a  sketch  of  this  celebrated 
speech.  But  those  of  Mr.  Henry's  tiearers  who  survive,  seem 
to  have  been  bereft  of  their  senses.  They  can  only  tell  you, 
in  general,  that  they  were  taken  captive ;  and  so  delighted 
with  their  captivity,  that  they  followed  implicitly,  whitherso 
ever  he  led  them :  that,  at  his  bidding,  their  tears  flowed 
from  pity,  and  their  cheeks  flushed  with  indignation :  that 
when  it  was  over,  they  felt  as  if  they  had  just  awaked  from 
some  ecstatic  dream,  of  which  they  were  unable  to  recall  or 
connect  the  particulars.  It  was  such  a  speech  as  they  be 
lieve  had  never  before  fallen  from  the  lips  of  man ;  and  to 
this  day,  the  old  people  of  that  county  cannot  conceive  that 
a  higher  compliment  can  be  paid  to  a  speaker,  than  to  say 
of  him,  in  their  own  homely  phrase  : — "  He  is  almost  equal 
to  Patrick,  when  he  plead  against  the  parsons.11 

The  only  topic  of  this  speech  of  which  any  authentic  ac 
count  remains,  is  the  order  of  the  king  in  council,  whereby 
the  act  of  1758  had  been  declared  void.  This  subject  had 
in  truth  been  disposed  of  by  the  demurrer;  and,  in  strictness 
of  proceeding,  neither  Mr.  Henry  nor  the  jury  had  any  thing 
to  do  with  it.  The  laxity  of  the  county-court  practice,  how 
ever,  indulged  him  in  the  widest  career  he  chose  to  take, 
and  he  laid  hold  of  this  point,  neither  with  a  feeble  nor  hesi 
tating  hand ;  but  boldly  and  vigorously  pressed  it  upon  the 
jury,  and  that,  too,  with  very  powerful  effect.  He  insisted 
on  the  connexion  and  reciprocal  duties  between  the  king  and 
his  subjects ;  maintained  that  government  was  a  conditional 


PATRICK     HENRY.  47 

compact,  composed  of  mutual  and  dependent  covenants,  of 
which  a  violation  by  one  party  discharged  the  other ;  and 
intrepidly  contended  that  the  disregard  which  had  been 
shown,  in  this  particular,  to  the  pressing  wants  of  the  colony, 
was  an  instance  of  royal  misrule,  which  had  thus  far  dis 
solved  the  political  compact,  and  left  the  people  at  liberty  to 
consult  their  own  safety ;  that  they  had  consulted  it  by  the 
act  of  1758,  which,  therefore,  notwithstanding  the  dissent  of 
the  king  and  his  council,  ought  to  be  considered  as  the  law 
of  the  land,  and  the  only  legitimate  measure  of  the  claims 
of  the  clergy. 

The  nature  of  this  topic,  and  the  earnest  and  undaunted 
manner  in  which  Mr.  Henry  a  said  to  have  pursued  and 
maintained  it,  proves  that  even  at  this  period,  which  has 
been  marked  as  the  era  of  our  greatest  attachment  and  de- 
votion  to  the  parent  country,  his  mind,  at  least,  was  disposed 
to  pry  into  the  course  of  the  regal  administration,  and  to  ^ 
speak  forth  his  sentiments  without  any  fear  of  the  conse 
quences.  The  reception  which  the  people  gave  to  the  argu 
ment,  proves  that  they  also  had  no  superstitious  repugnance 
to  the  consideration  of  such  topics,  nor  any  very  insuperable 
horror  at  the  idea  of  a  separation.  Not  that  there  is  ground 
to  suspect  that  any  one  had,  at  this  time,  realized  such  an 
event,  or  even  contemplated  it  as  desirable.  The  suggestion, 
therefore,  which  I  have  sometimes  heard,  that  Mr.  Henry  was 

already  meditating  the   independence  of  the  colonies,  and 

sowing  the  seeds  of  those  reflections  which  he  wished  to 
ripen  into  revolt,  is,  in  my  opinion,  rather  curious  than  just. 
I  believe  that  he  thought  of  nothing  beyond  success  in  his 
cause  ;  and  since  the  desperate  posture  in  which  he  found  it 
demanded  a  daring  and  eccentric  course,  he  adopted  that 


48  WIRT'SLIFEOF 

which  has  been  already  stated.  The  character  of  his  argu 
ment  proves,  indeed,  that  he  was  naturally  a  bold  and  in 
trepid  inquirer,  who  was  not  to  be  overawed  from  his  pur 
pose  by  the  name  even  of  sovereignty  itself;  and  of  course 
that  he  was  made  of  good  revolutionary  materials.  But  an 
adequate  provocation  had  not  at  this  time  been  given :  and 
it  would  be  imputing  to  Mr.  Henry  a  criminal  ambition,  of 
which  there  is  no  proof,  to  suppose  that  he  was  meditating 
the  subversion  of  a  government,  against  which  the  voice  of 
serious  complaint  had  not  yet  been  heard.  Besides,  Mr. 
Henry's  standing  in  society  was  at  this  period  so  humble,  as 
*  to  have  rendered  the  meditation  of  such  a  purpose,  on  his 
part,  presumptuous  in  the  extreme  ;  and  equally  inconsistent 
both  with  his  unassuming  modesty,  and  that  natural  good 
sense  and  i".curate  judgment  which  are,  on  all  hands,  as 
signed  to  him. 

Immediately  on  the  decision  of  this  cause,  he  was  retained 
in  all  the  cases,  within  the  range  of  his  practice,  which  de 
pended  on  the  same  question.  But  no  other  case  was  ever 
brought  to  trial.  They  were,  all  throughout  the  colony,  dis 
missed  by  the  plaintiffs  ;  nor  was  any  appeal  ever  prosecuted 
in  the  case  of  Mr.  Maury.  The  reason  assigned  for  this  by 
Mr.  Camm  is,  that  the  legislature  had  voted  money  to  sup 
port  the  appeal  on  the  part  of  the  defendants,  and  that  the 
clergy  were  not  rich  enough  to  contend  against  the  whole 
wealth  and  strength  of  the  colony.* 

The  clergy  took  their  revenge  in  an  angry  pamphlet  from 
the  pen  of  Mr.  Camm,  in  which  a  very  contemptuous  account 

*  Mr.  Camm  is  right  as  to  the  interference  of  the  legislature.  1 
have  not  been  able,  however,  to  find  any  resolution  of  the  legislature 
lo  this  effect,  earlier  than  the  7th  of  April,  1767 :  whereas  Mr.  Maury  :s 


PATRICK    HENRY.  49 

is  given  both  of  the  advocate  and  the  court.  Mr.  Henry  is 
stigmatized  in  it  as  an  obscure  attorney :  and  the  epithet  was 
true  enough  as  to  the  time  past,  but  it  was  now  true  no 
longer.  His  sun  had  risen  with  a  splendour  which  had  never  */ 
before  been  witnessed  in  this  colony ;  and  never  afterward 
did  it  disgrace  this  glorious  rising. 

case  was  decided  in  Hanover,  on  the  1st  December,  1763.    The  fol 
lowing  is  extracted  from  the  journal  of  the  day  first  mentioned  : — 

"  On  a  motion  made — 

"Resolved,  that  the  committee  of  correspondence  be  directed  to 
write  1o  the  agent,  to  defend  the  parish  collectors  from  all  appeals 
from  judgments  here  given,  in  suits  brought  by  the  clergy,  for  recov 
ering  iheir  salaries,  payable  on  or  before  the  last  day  of  May,  1759  j 
and  tLat  this  house  will  engage  to  defray  the  expense  thereof." 

G  5 


' 


SECTION  II. 

IT  is  almost  unnecessary  to  state,  that  the  display  which 
Mr.  Henry  had  made  in  " the  parsons'  cause"  as  it  was 
popularly  called,  placed  him  at  once  at  the  head  of  his  pro- 
Jession,  in  that  quarter  of  the  colony  in  which  he  practised. 
He  became  the  theme  of  every  tongue.  He  had  exhibited 
a  degree  of  eloquence,  which  the  people  had  never  before 
witnessed ;  a  species  of  eloquence,  too,  entirely  new  at  the 
bar,  and  altogether  his  own.  He  had  formed  it  on  no  living 
model,  for  there  was  none  such  in  the  countryi  He  had  not 
copied  it  from  books,  for  they  had  described  nothing  of  the 
kind ;  or  if  they  had,  he  was  a  stranger  to  their  contents. 
Nor  had  he  formed  it  himself,  by  solitary  study  and  exercise ; 
for  he  was  far  too  indolent  for  any  such  process.  It  was  so 
unexampled,  so  unexpected,  so  instantaneous,  and  so  trans 
cendent  in  its  character,  that  it  had,  to  the  people,  very 
much  the  appearance  of  supernatural  inspiration.  He  was 
styled  "  the  orator  of  nature ;"  and  was,  on  that  account, 
much  more  revered  by  the  people  than  if  he  had  been  formed 
by  the  severest  discipline  of  the  schools  ;  for  they  considered 
him  as  bringing  his  credentials  directly  from  heaven,  and 
owing  no  part  of  his  greatness  to  human  institutions. 

There  were  other  considerations,  also,  which  drew  him 
still  more  closely  to  the  bosom  of  the  people.  The  society  of 
Virginia  was  at  that  time  pretty  strongly  discriminated.  A 
gentleman  who  lived  in  those  days,  and  who  had  the  best 


PATRICK    HENRY.  51 

opportunities  of  judging  on  the  subject,  has  furnished  the 
following  interesting  picture  of  it : — 

"To  state  the  differences  between  the  classes  of  society, 
and  the  lines  of  demarcation  which  separated  them,  would 
DC  difficult.  The  law,  you  know,  admitted  none,  except  as 
to  the  twelve  counsellors.  Yet,  in  a  country  insulated 
from  the  European  world,  insulated  from  its  sister  colonies, 
with  whom  there  was  scarcely  any  intercourse,  little  visited 
by  foreigners,  and  having  little  matter  to  act  upon  withir 
itself,  certain  families  had  risen  to  splendour  by  wealth,  am 
by  the  preservation  of  it  from  generation  to  generation,  unde. 
the  law  of  entails  ;  some  had  produced  a  series  of  men  of 
talents ;  families  in  general  had  remained  stationary  on  the 
grounds  of  their  forefathers,  for  there  was  no  emigration  to 
the  westward  in  those  days ;  the  Irish,  who  had  gotten  pos 
session  of  the  valley  between  the  Blue  Ridge  and  the  North 
Mountain,  formed  a  barrier  over  which  none  ventured  to 
leap ;  and  their  manners  presented  no  attraction  to  the  low- 
landers  to  settle  among  them.  In  such  a  state  of  things, 
scarcely  admitting  any  change  of  station,  society  would  set 
tle  itself  down  in*o  several  strata,  separated  by  no  marked 
lines,  but  shading  off  imperceptibly  from  top  to  bottom,  no 
thing  disturbing  the  order  of  their  repose.  There  were,  then, 
first,  aristocrats,  composed  of  the  great  landholders,  who  had 
seated  themselves  below  tidewater  on  the  main  rivers,  and 
lived  in  a  style  of  luxury  and  extravagance  insupportable  by 
the  other  inhabitants,  and  which,  indeed,  ended  in  seve 
ral  instances  in  the  ruin  of  their  own  fortunes.  Next  to 
these  were  what  might  be  called  half-breeds ;  the  descend 
ants  of  the  younger  sons  and  daughters  of  the  aristocrats, 
who  inherited  the  pride  of  their  ancestors,  without  their 
wealth.  Then  came  the  pretenders,  men,  who,  from  vanity v 


52  WIRT'S     LIFE    OF 

or  the  impulse  of  growing  wealth,  or  from  that  enterprise 
which  is  natural  to  talents,  sought  to  detach  themselves  from 
the  plebeian  ranks,  to  which  they  properly  belonged,  and  imi 
tated,  at  some  distance,  the  manners  and  habits  of  the  great. 
~*Next  to  these,  were  a  solid  and  independent  yeomanry, 
looking  askance  at  those  above,  yet  not  venturing  to  jostle 
them.  And  last  and  lowest,  a  feculum  of  beings,  called 
overseers,  the  most  abject,  degraded,  unprincipled  race ;  al 
ways  cap  in  hand  to  the  dons  wlio  employed  them,  and  fur 
nishing  materials  for  the  exercise  of  their  pride,  insolence, 
and  spirit  of  domination." 

It  was  from  the  body  of  the  yeomanry,  whom  my  corres 
pondent  represents  as  "looking  askance"  at  those  above 
them,  that  Mr.  Henry  proceeded.  He  belonged  to  the  body 
of  the  people.  His  birth,  education,  fortune,  and  manners, 
made  him  one  of  themselves.  They  regarded  him,  there 
fore,  as  their  own  property,  and  sent  to  them  expressly  for 
the  very  purpose  of  humbling  the  pride  of  the  mighty,  and 
exalting  the  honour  of  his  own  class. 

Mr.  Henry  had  too  much  sagacity  not  to  see  this  advan 
tage,  and  too  much  good  sense  not  to  keep  and  to  improve  it. 
He  seems  to  have  formed  to  himself,  very  early  in  life,  just 
views  of  society,  and  to  have  acted  upon  them  with  the  most 
laudable  system  and  perseverance.  He  regarded  government 
as  instituted  solely  for  the  good  of  the  people ;  and  not  for 
the  benefit  of  those  who  had  contrived  to  make  a  job  of  it. 
He  looked  upon  the  body  of  the  people,  therefore,  as  the  ba 
sis  of  society,  the  fountain  of  all  power,  and,  directly  or  indi 
rectly,  of  all  offices  and  honours,  which  had  been  instituted 
originally  for  their  use.  He  made  it  no  secret,  therefore ;  nay, 
he  made  it  his  boast,  that  on  every  occasion,  "  he  bowed  to 
the  majesty  of  the  people."  With  regard  to  himself,  he  saw 


PATRICK     HENRY.  53 

rery  distinctly,  that  all  his  hopes  rested  on  the  people's  fa 
vour.  He  therefore  adhered  to  them  with  unshaken  fidelity. 
He  retained  their  manners,  their  customs,  all  their  modes 
of  life,  with  religious  caution.  He  dressed  as  plainly  as 
the  plainest  of  them ;  ate  only  the  homely  fare,  and  dr 
the  simple  beverage  of  the  country;  mixed  with  them  on 
a  footing  of  the  most  entire  and  perfect  equality,  and  con 
versed  with  them,  even  in  their  own  vicious  and  depraved 
pronunciation.* 

If  this  last  were  the  effect  of  artful  compliance,  as  has 
been  strenuously  affirmed,  it  was  certainly  carrying  the  sys 
tem  farther  than  dignity  would  warrant.  Mr.  Henry  should 
have  been  the  instructer  as  well  as  the  friend  of  the  people, 
and,  by  his  example,  have  corrected  instead  of  adopting  their 
errors.  It  is  very  certain,  that  by  this  course  he  disgusted 
many  of  those  whom  it  was  often  his  business  to  persuade  ; 
not  because  they  considered  it  as  a  proof  of  vulgarity  and 
ignorance,  but  because  they  regarded  it  as  a  premeditated 
artifice  to  catch  the  favour  and  affections  of  the  people.  That 
it  was  so,  I  am  not  disposed  to  believe.  I  think  it  much 
more  probable,  that  those  errors  of  pronunciation  were  the 
effect  of  early  and  inveterate  habit,  which  had  become  incu 
rable  before  he  was  informed  of  his  mistake.  He  had  no 
occasion  to  resort  to  such  petty  artifices,  either  to  gain  or  to 
hold  the  affections  of  the  people.  He  held  them  by  a  much 

*  Governor  Page  relates,  that  he  once  heard  him  express  the  fol 
lowing  sentiments,  in  this  vicious  pronunciation  : — "  Naiteral  parts 
is  better  than  all  the  larnin  upon  y earth;"  but  the  accuracy  of  Mr. 
Page's  memory  is  questioned  in  this  particular,  by  the  acquaintances 
of  Mr.  Henry,  who  say,  that  he  was  too  good  a  grammarian  to  have 
uttered  such  a  sentence,  although  they  admit  the  inaccuracy  of  his 
pronunciation,  in  some  of  the  words  imputed  to  him. 

5* 


54  WIRT  S    LIFE    OF 

higher  and  a  much  firmer  title :  the  simplicity  of  his  man 
ners  ;  the  benevolence  of  his  disposition ;  the  integrity  of 
Ins  life  ;  his  real  devotion  to  their  best  interests ;  that  uncom 
mon  sagacity,  which  enabled  him  to  discern  those  interests 
in  every  situation ;  and  the  unshaken  constancy  with  which 
he  pursued  them,  in  spite  of  every  difficulty  and  danger  that 
could  threaten  him.  From  the  point  of  time,  of  which  we 
are  now  speaking,  it  is  very  certain  that  he  suffered  no  gale 
of  fortune,  however  high  or  prosperous,  to  separate  him 
from  the  people  :  nor  did  the  people,  on  their  part,  ever  de 
sert  him.  He  was  the  man  to  whom  they  looked  in  every 
crisis  of  difficulty,  and  the  favourite  on  whom  they  were 
ever  ready  to  lavish  all  the  honours  in  their  gift. 

Middleton,  in  his  life  of  Cicero,  tells  us,  that  the  first  great 
speech  of  that  orator,  his  defence  of  Roscius  of  Ameria,  was 
made  at  the  age  of  twenty-seven ;  the  same  age,  he  adds, 
at  which  the  learned  have  remarked,  that  Demosthenes  dis 
tinguished  himself  in  the  assembly  of  the  Athenians  : — "  as 
if  this  were  the  age,"  I  quote  his  own  words,  "  at  which 
these  great  genios  regularly  bloomed  toward  maturity."  It 
is  rather  curious,  than  important,  to  observe,  that  Mr.  Henry 
furnishes  another  instance  in  support  of  this  theory ;  since  it 
was  precisely  in  the  same  year  of  his  life,  that  his  talents 
first  became  known  to  himself  and  to  the  world.  Nor  let 
the  admirer  of  antiquity  revolt  at  our  coupling  the  name  of 
Henry  with  those  of  Cicero  and  Demosthenes  :  it  can  be  no 
degradation  to  the  orator  either  of  Greece  or  Rome,  that  his 
name  stands  enrolled  on  the  same  page  writh  that  of  a  man 
of  whom  such  a  judge  of  eloquence  as  Mr.  Jefferson  has 
said,  that  "  he  was  the  greatest  orator  that  ever  lived." 

But  the  taste  of  professional  fame  which  Mr.  Henry  had 
derived  from  the  "  parsons'  cause,"  exquisite  as  it  must  have 


PATRICK    HENRY.  55 

been,  was  not  sufficient  to  inspire  him  with  a  thirst  for  the 
learning  of  his  profession.  He  had  an  insuperable  aversion 
to  the  old  black-letter  of  the  law-books,  (which  was  often 
a  topic  of  raillery  with  him,)  and  he  was  never  able  to  con 
quer  it,  except  for  preparation  in  some  particular  cause.  No 
love  of  distinction,  no  necessity,  however  severe,  were  strong 
enough  to  bind  him  down  to  a  regular  course  of  reading. 
He  could  not  brook  the  confinement.  The  reasoning  of  the 
law  was  too  artificial,  and  too  much  cramped  for  him. 
While  unavoidably  engaged  in  it,  he  felt  as  if  manacled. 
His  mind  was  perpetually  struggling  to  break  away.  His 
genius  delighted  in  liberty  and  space,  in  which  it  might 
roam  at  large,  and  feast  on  every  variety  of  intellectual  en 
joyment.  Hence,  he  was  never  profound  in  the  learning  of 
the  law.  On  a  question  merely  legal,  his  inferiors,  in  point 
of  talents,  frequently  embarrassed  and  foiled  him ;  and  it 
required  all  the  resources  o/  his  extraordinary  mind  to  sup 
port  the  distinction  which  he  had  now  gained. 

The  most  successful  practice  in  the  county  courts  was,  in 
those  days,  but  a  slender  dependance  for  a  family.  Notwith 
standing,  therefore,  the  great  addition  to  his  business,  which 
we  have  noticed,  Mr.  Henry  seems  still  to  have  been  pressed 
by  want.  With  the  hope  of  improving  his  situation,  he  re 
moved,  in  the  year  1764,  to  the  county  of  Louisa,  and  re 
sided  at  a  place  called  the  Roundabout.  Here  I  have  learned 
nothing  remarkable  of  him,  unless  it  may  be  thought  so, 
that  he  pursued  his  favourite  amusement  of  hunting  with 
increased  ardour.  "  After  his  removal  to  Louisa,"  says  my 
informant,  "he  has  been  known  to  hunt  deer,  frequently 
for  several  days  together,  carrying  his  provision  with  him, 
and  at  night  encamping  in  the  woods.  After  the  hunt  was 
over,  he  would  go  from  the  ground  to  Louisa  court,  clad  in 


56  WIRT'S    LIFE     OF 

a  coarse  cloth  coat,  stained  with  all  the  trophies  of  the  chase, 
greasy  leather  breeches,  ornamented  in  the  same  way,  leg 
gings  for  boots,  and  a  pair  of  saddlebags  on  his  arm.  Thus 
accoutred,  he  would  enter  the  court-house,  take  up  the  first 
of  his  causes  that  chanced  to  be  called ;  and  if  there  was 
any  scope  for  his  peculiar  talent,  throw  his  adversary  into 
the  background,  and  astonish  both  court  and  jury,  by  the 
powerful  effusions  of  his  natural  eloquence. 

There  must  have  been  something  irresistibly  captivating 
in  Mr.  Henry's  mode  of  speaking,  even  on  the  most  trivial 
subjects.  The  late  Judge  Lyons  has  been  heard  to  say  of 
himself,  while  practising  with  Mr.  Henry,  that  "he  could 
write  a  letter,  or  draw  a  declaration  or  plea  at  the  bar,  with 
as  much  accuracy,  as  he  could  in  his  office,  under  all  circum 
stances,  except  when  Patrick  rose  to  speak;  but  that  when 
ever  he  rose,  although  it  might  be  on  so  trifling  a  subject  as 
a  summons  and  petition  for  twenty  shillings,  he  was  obliged 
to  lay  down  his  pen,  and  could  not  write  another  word,  until 
the  speech  was  finished."  Such  was  the  charm  of  his, 
voice  and  manner,  and  the  interesting  originality  of  his 
conceptions  ! 

In  the  fall  of  1764,  Mr.  Henry  had  an  opportunity  of  ex 
hibiting  himself  on  a  new  theatre.  A  contest  occurred  in 
the  house  of  burgesses,  in  the  case  of  Mr.  James  Littlepage, 
the  returned  member  for  the  county  of  Hanover.  The  rival 
candidate  and  petitioner  was  Nathaniel  West  Dandridge.* 
The  charge  against  Mr.  Littlepage  was  bribery  and  corrup- 

*  Here  is  another  mistake  of  Mr.  Burk's.  He  states  the  contest  to 
have  been  between  Col.  Syme  (Mr.  Henry's  half-brother)  and  Col. 
Richard  Littlepage.  The  journal  contradicts  him,  and  supports  the 
text.  There  was  no  such  contest  as  that  of  which  he  speaks  j  at  least, 
between  the  years  1762  and  1768. 


PATRICK     HENRY. 


57 


tion.  The  parties  were  heard  by  their  counsel,  before  the 
committee  of  privileges  and  elections,  and  Mr.  Henry  was 
on  this  occasion  employed  by  Mr.  Dandridge. 

Williamsburg,  then  the  seat  of  government,  was  the  fo 
cus  of  fashion  and  high  life.  The  residence  of  the  gov 
ernor,  (the  immediate  representative  of  the  sovereign,)  the 
royal  state  in  which  he  lived,  the  polite  and  brilliant  circle 
which  he  always  had  about  him,  diffused  their  influence 
through  the  city  and  the  circumjacent  country,  and  filled  Wil 
liamsburg  with  a  degree  of  emulation,  taste,  and  elegance, 
of  which  we  can  form  no  conception  by  the  appearances  of 
the  present  day.  During  the  session  of  the  house  of  bur 
gesses,  too,  these  stately  modes  of  life  assumed  their  richest 
forms ;  the  town  was  filled  with  a  concourse  of  visiters,  as 
well  as  citizens,  attired  in  their  gayest  colours ;  the  streets 
exhibited  a  continual  scene  of  animated  and  glittering  tu 
mult  ;  the  houses,  of  costly  profusion. 

Such  was  the  scene  in  which  Mr.  Henry  was  now  called 
upon,  for  the  first  time,  to  make  his  appearance.  He  made 
no  preparation  for  it,  but  went  down  just  in  the  kind  of  garb 
which  he  had  been  accustomed  to  exhibit  all  his  life,  and  is 
said  to  have  worn  on  this  occasion  particularly,  a  suit  which 
had  suffered  very  considerably  in  the  service.  The  contrast 
which  he  exhibited  with  the  general  elegance  of  the  place, 
was  so  striking,  as  to  call  upon  him  the  eyes  of  all  the  curi 
ous  and  the  mischievous  ;  and,  as  he  moved  awkwardly 
about,  in  his  coarse  and  threadbare  dress,  with  a  counte 
nance  of  abstraction  and  total  unconcern  as  to  what  was 
passing  around  him,  (interesting  as  it  seemed  to  every  one 
else,)  he  was  stared  at  by  some  as  a  prodigy,  and  regarded 
by  others  as  an  unfortunate  being,  whose  senses  were  disor 
dered.  When  he  went  to  attend  the  committee  of  privileges 
H 


58  WIRT'SLIFEOF 

and  elections,  the  matter  was  still  worse.  "  The  proud  airs 
of  aristocracy,"  says  Judge  Tyler,  detailing  this  incident  of 
Mr.  Henry's  life,  "  added  to  the  dignified  forms  of  that  truly 
august  body,  were  enough  to  have  deterred  any  man  posses 
sing  less  firmness  and  independence  of  spirit  than  Mr. 
Henry.  He  was  ushered  with  great  state  and  ceremony 
into  the  room  of  the  committee,  whose  chairman  was  Col. 
Bland.*  Mr.  Henry  was  dressed  in  very  coarse  apparel ;  no 
one  knew  any  thing  of  him ;  t  and  scarcely  was  he  treated 
with  decent  respect  by  any  one  except  the  chairman,  who 
could  not  do  so  much  violence  to  his  feelings  and  principles, 
as  to  depart,  on  any  occasion,  from  the  delicacy  of  the  gen 
tleman.  But  the  general  contempt  was  soon  changed  into 
as  general  admiration ;  for  Mr.  Henry  distinguished  himself 
by  a  copious  and  brilliant  display  on  the  great  subject  of  the 
rights  of  suffrage,  superior  to  any  thing  that  had  been  heard 
before  within  those  walls.  Such  a  burst  of  eloquence,  from 
a  man  so  very  plain  and  ordinary  in  his  appearance,  struck 

*  Mr.  Tyler  says,  "  that  enlightened  and  amiable  man,  John  Blair;" 
but  in  this  he  is  corrected  by  the  journal,  which  shows  that  Mr.  Bland 
was  the  chairman  of  the  committee  of  privileges  and  elections  for  that 
year.  I  should  have  thought,  from  the  general  accuracy  of  Mr.  Ty 
ler's  statement,  that  Mr.  Blair  might  have  been  officiating  as  chair 
man  pro  tempore,  in  the  absence  of  Col.  Bland ;  but  that  Mr.  Blair 
does  not  appear,  by  the  journal,  to  nave  belonged  to  the  committee 
or  even  to  have  been  a  member  of  the  house  in  1764.  His  name  does 
not  appear  till  1766. 

Mr.  Tyler,  reciting  Mr.  Henry's  own  narrative,  after  a  lapse  of 
several  years,  might  very  easily  have  confounded  two  names  as  sim 
ilar  as  those  of  Bland  and  Blair. 

t  That  is,  I  presume,  of  his  person ;  for  after  the  very  splendid  ex 
hibition  which  he  made  in  the  parsons'  cause,  his  name  could  not 
have  been  wholly  unknown:  the  text,  however,  gives  the  words  of 
my  correspondent  faithfully. 


PATRICK    HENRY.  59 

the  committee  with  amazement ;  so  that  a  deep  and  perfect 
silence  took  place  during  the  speech,  and  not  a  sound  but 
from  his  lips  was  to  be  heard  in  the  room."  So  far.  Judge 
Tyler.  Judge  Winston,  relating  the  same  incident,  says : 
"  Some  time  after,  a  member  of  the  house,  speaking  to  me 
of  this  occurrence,  said,  he  had,  for  a  day  or  two,  observed 
an  ill-dressed  young  man  sauntering  in  the  lobby ;  that  he 
seemed  to  be  a  stranger  to  every  body,  and  he  had  not  the 
curiosity  to  inquire  his  name ;  but  that,  attending  when 
the  case  of  the  contested  election  came  on,  he  was  surprised 
to  find  this  same  person  counsel  for  one  of  the  parties ;  and 
still  more  so,  when  he  delivered  an  argument  superior  to  any 
thing  he  had  ever  heard."  The  case,  according  to  the  report 
of  the  committee  of  privileges  and  elections,  is  not  one  which 
seems  to  present  much  scope  for  a  very  interesting  discussion ; 
but  Mr.  Henry's  was  one  of  those  minds  which  impart  inter 
est  to  every  subject  they  touch. 

The  same  year,  1764,  is  memorable  for  the  origination  of 
that  great  question  which  led  finally  to  the  independence  of 
the  United  States.  It  has  been  said  by  a  gentleman,  at 
least  as  well  qualified  to  judge  as  any  other  now  alive,*  that 
"  Mr.  Henry  certainly  gave  the  first  impulse  to  the  ball  of  the 
revolution."  In  order  to  show  the  correctness  of  this  position, 
it  is  proper  to  ascertain  the  precise  point  to  which  the  contro 
versy  with  Great  Britain  had  advanced,  when  Mr.  Henry 
first  presented  himself  in  the  character  of  a  statesman. 

In  March,  1764,  the  British  parliament  had  passed  reso 
lutions,  preparatory  to  the  levying  a  revenue  on  the  colonies 
by  a  stamp  tax.  These  resolutions  were  communicated  to 
the  house  of  burgesses  of  Virginia,  through  their  committee 

*  Mr.  Jefferson. 


60  WIRT'S    LIFE     OF 

of  correspondence,  by  the  colonial  agent ;  and  having  been 
maturely  considered,  resulted  in  the  appointment  of  a  spe 
cial  committee  to  prepare  an  address  to  the  king,  a  memo 
rial  to  the  lords,  and  a  remonstrance  to  the  house  of  com 
mons.  On  the  18th  of  December,  1764,  these  papers  were 
reported,  and  (after  various  amendments,  which  considerably 
diluted  their  spirit)  received  the  concurrence  of  the  coun 
cil.  The  reader  will  perceive,  on  perusing  them,*  that, 
while  they  affirm,  in  clear  and  strong  terms,  the  constitu 
tional  exemption  of  the  colony  from  taxation  by  the  British 
parliament,  they  breathe,  nevertheless,  a  tone  so  suppliant, 
and  exhibit  such  a  picture  of  anticipated  suffering  from  the 
pressure  of  the  tax  on  the  exhausted  resources  of  the  colony, 
as  to  indicate  that  no  opposition  beyond  remonstrance  was, 
at  this  time,  meditated.  Remonstrance,  however,  was  vain. 
In  January,  1765,  the  famous  stamp  act  was  passed,  to  take 
effect  in  the  colonies  on  the  first  of  November  following.  The 
annunciation  of  this  measure  seems  at  first  to  have  stunned 
the  continent  from  one  extremity  to  the  other.  The  presses, 
which  spread  the  intelligence  among  the  people,  were  them 
selves  manifestly  confounded  ;  and  so  far  from  inspiring  the 
energy  of  resistance,  they  seemed  rather  disposed  to  have 
looked  out  for  topics  of  consolation,  under  submission.!  The 
truth  is,  that  all  ranks  of  society  were  confounded.  No 
one  knew  what  to  hope,  what  more  to  fear,  or  what  course 

*  See  Appendix.    Note  A. 

t  Thus  in  the  Pennsylvania  Gazette  of  the  30th  of  May,  1765:— 
"  We  hear  the  sums  of  money  arising  from  the  new  stamp  duties  in 
North  America,  for  the  first  five  years,  are  chiefly  to  be  applied  toward 
making  commodious  post-roads  from  one  province  to  another,  erect 
ing  bridges  where  necessary,  and  other  measures  equally  important 
to  facilitate  an  extensive  trade." 


PATRICK    HENRY.  61 

was  best  to  be  taken.  Some,  indeed,  were  fond  enough  to 
entertain  hopes  that  the  united  remonstrances  of  the  colonial 
legislatures,  the  fate  of  which  had  not  yet  been  heard,  might 
induce  the  mother-country  to  change  her  policy ;  these  hopes, 
however,  were  faint ;  and  few  there  were  that  entertained 
them  Many  considered  submission,  in  the  present  state  of 
the  colonies,  as  unavoidable ;  and  that  this  was  the  opinion 
of  Doctor  Franklin  himself,  is  apparent  from  the  remark 
with  which  he  took  leave  of  Mr.  Ingersoll,  on  his  departure 
for  America.*  The  ide^  of  re sjstaiicjej^^jojc^o^sjm where 
glanced  at  in  the  most  distant  manner ;  no  heart  seems  to 
have  been  bold  enough,  at  first,  to  conceive  it.  Men,  on  other 
occasions  marked  for  intrepidity  and  decision,  now  hung 
back,  unwilling  to  submit,  and  yet  afraid  to  speak  out  in 
the  language  of  bold  and  open  defiance.  It  was  just  at  this 
moment  of  despondency  in  some  quarters,  suspense  in  others, 
and  surly  and  reluctant  submission  wherever  submission  ap 
peared,  that  Patrick  Henry  stood  forth  to  raise  the  drooping 
spirit  of  the  people,  and  to  unite  all  hearts  and  hands  in  the 
cause  of  his  country.  With  the  view  of  making  way  for 
him,  and  placing  him  in  the  public  councils  of  his  country, 
Mr.  William  Johnson,  who  had  been  elected  a  member  of 
the  house  of  burgesses  for  the  county  of  Louisa,  vacated  his 
seat  by  accepting  the  commission  of  coroner.  The  writ  of 
election  to  supply  his  place  was  awarded  on  the  first  of  May, 
1765,  and  on  the  20th  day  of  that  month,  it  appears  by  the 
journals,  that  Mr.  Henry  was  added  to  the  committee  for 
courts  of  justice. 

Here,  again,  he  was  upon  a  new  theatre,  and  personally 
unknown,  except  to  those  few  who  might  have  heard  his 

*  "Go  home,  and  tell  your  countrymen  to  get  children  as  fast  as 
they  can." — GORDON. 

6 


62  WIRT'S    LIFE     OF 

argument  on  the  contested  election  of  Mr.  Littlepage,  the 
preceding  winter.  His  dress  and  manners  were  still  those 
of  the  plain  planter,  and,  in  his  personal  appearance,  there 
was  nothing  to  excite  curiosity,  or  awaken  expectation. 
The  forms  of  the  house,  of  which  he  was  now  for  the 
first  time  a  member,  were,  as  has  been  stated,  most  aw 
fully  dignified ;  its  active  members  were  composed  of  the 
landed  aristocracy  and  their  adherents ;  and  amongst  them 
were  men  to  whose  superiority  of  talents,  as  well  as  influence 
and  power,  the  yeomanry  of  the  country  had  long  been  ac 
customed  to  bow  with  tacit  and  submissive  deference. 

John  Robinson,  the  speaker  of  the  house,  was  one  of  the 
most  opulent  men  in  the  colony,  and  the  acknowledged  head 
of  its  landed  aristocracy.  He  had  now  filled  the  chair  of  the 
house  with  great  dignity,  and  without  interruption,  for  five 
and  twenty  years.  He  was,  also,  the  colonial  treasurer: 
and  from  the  high  offices  which  he  held,  in  connexion  with 
the  regal  government,  was  as  warmly  attached  to  its  author 
ity  by  interest,  as  he  was  by  taste  and  fashion  to  all  the 
grandeur  of  its  forms.  But,  notwithstanding  this  close  alli 
ance  with  the  court,  his  personal  influence,  in  every  class  of 
society,  was  very  great;  and  he  held  that  influence  by  a 
tenure  far  superior  to  any  that  his  own  vast  wealth  or  the 
power  of  the  crown  could  confer.  For  he  possessed  a  strong 
and  well-informed  mind,  enlarged  and  corrected  by  great 
experience,  and  he  united  with  it  a  benevolence  of  spirit 
and  a  courtesy  of  manners  which  never  failed  to  attach 
every  heart  that  approached  him.  The  poor  drew  near  to 
him  without  awe  or  embarrassment ;  they  came,  indeed,  with 
filial  confidence ;  for  they  never  failed  to  find  in  him  a  sym 
pathetic  friend  and  an  able  counsellor.  The  rich  enjoyed 
i:i  him  an  easy,  enlightened,  and  instructive  companion ; 


PATRICK    HENRY.  63 

and,  next  to  the  governor,  regarded  him  as  the  highest  mod 
el  of  elegance  and  fashion.  An  anecdote  is  related  of  this 
gentleman,  which  displays  in  a  strong  and  amiable  light, 
the  exalted  force  of  his  feelings,  and  the  truly  noble  cast  of 
his  manners.  When  Col.  Washington  (the  immortal  saviour 
of  his  country)  had  closed  his  career  in  the  French  and  In 
dian  war,  and  had  become  a  member  of  the  house  of  bur 
gesses,  the  speaker,  Robinson,  was  directed,  by  a  vote  of  the 
house,  to  return  their  thanks  to  that  gentleman,  on  behalf 
of  the  colony,  for  the  distinguished  military  services  which 
he  had  rendered  to  his  country.  As  soon  as  Col.  Washing 
ton  took  his  seat,  Mr.  Robinson,  in  obedience  to  this  order, 
and  following  the  impulse  of  his  own  generous  and  grateful 
heart,  discharged  the  duty  with  great  dignity ;  but  with 
such  warmth  of  colouring  and  strength  of  expression,  as  en 
tirely  confounded  the  young  hero.  He  rose  to  express  his 
acknowledgments  for  the  honour ;  but  such  was  his  trepida 
tion  and  confusion,  that  he  could  not  give  distinct  utterance 
to  a  single  syllable.  He  blushed,  stammered,  and  trembled, 
for  a  second ;  when  the  speaker  relieved  him  by  a  stroke  of 
address  that  would  have  done  honour  to  Louis  XIV.  in 
his  proudest  and  happiest  moment.  "  Sit  down,  Mr.  Wash 
ington,"  said  he,  with  a  conciliating  smile ;  "  your  modesty 
is  equal  to  your  valour ;  and  that  surpasses  the  power  of  any 
language  that  I  possess."* 

Peyton  Randolph,  the  king's  attorney-general,  held  the 
next  rank  to  the  speaker.  He  was  not  distinguished  for  elo 
quence  ;  but  he  derived  great  weight  from  the  solid  powers 
of  his  understanding,  and  the  no  less  solid  virtues  of  his 
heart.  He  was  well  acquainted  with  all  the  forms  of  parlia- 

*  On  the  authority  of  Edmund  Randolph. 


64  WIRT'S    LIFE     OF 

mentary  proceeding ;  was   an  eminent  lawyer,  and  a  well 
informed  and  practical  statesman. 

Richard  Bland  was  one  of  the  most  enlightened  men  in 
the  colony.  He  was  a  man  of  finished  education,  and  of  the 
most  unbending  habits  of  application.  His  perfect  mastery 
of  every  fact  connected  with  the  settlement  ahd  progress  of 
the  colony,  had  given  him  the  name  of  the  Virginian  Anri- 
quary.*  He  was  a  politician  of  the  first  class ;  a  profound 
logician,  and  was  also  considered  as  the  first  writer  in  the 
colony.f 

Edmund  Pendleton,  the  protege  of  the  speaker  Robin 
son,  was  also  among  the  most  prominent  members  in  the 
house.  He  had,  in  a  great  measure,  overcome  the  disadvan 
tages  of  an  extremely  defective  education,  and,  by  the  force 
of  good  company  and  the  study  of  correct  authors,  had  attain 
ed  to  great  accuracy  and  perspicuity  of  style.  The  patronage 
of  the  speaker  had  introduced  him  to  the  first  circles,  and  his 

*  Edmund  Randolph. 

f  "He  was,"  says  a  correspondent,  "the  most  learned  and  logical 
man  of  those  who  took  a  prominent  lead  in  public  affairs ;  profound 
in  constitutional  lore ;  but  a  most  ungraceful  speaker  in  debate.  He 
wrote  the  first  pamphlet  on  the  nature  of  the  connexion  with  Great 
Britain,  which  had  any  pretensions  to  accuracy  of  view  on  that  subject ; 
but  it  was  a  singular  one :  he  would  set  out  on  sound  principles,  pur 
sue  them  logically,  till  he  found  them  leading  to  the  precipice  which 
we  had  to  leap ;  start  back,  alarmed  ;  then  resume  his  ground,  go  over 
it  in  another  direction,  be  led  again,  by  the  correctness  of  his  reason 
ing,  to  the  same  place,  and  again  tack  about  and  try  other  processes  to 
reconcile  right  and  wrong ;  but  left  his  reader  and  himself  bewildered 
between  the  steady  index  of  the  compass  in  their  hand,  and  the  phan 
tasm  to  which  it  seemed  to  point.  Still,  there  was  more  sound  matte 
in  this  pamphlet  than  in  the  celebrated  Farmer's  Letters,  which  were 
really  but  an  ignis  fatuus,  misleading  us  from  true  principle." 


PATRICK    HENRY. 


65 


manners  were  elevated,  graceful,  and  insinuating.  His  per 
son  was  spare,  but  well-proportioned ;  and  his  countenance 
one  of  the  finest  in  the  world ;  serene — contemplative — be 
nignant — with  that  expression  of  unclouded  intelligence  and 
extensive  research,  which  seemed  to  denote  him  capable  of  any 
thing  that  could  be  effected  by  the  power  of  the  human 
mind.  His  mind  itself  was  of  a  very  fine  order.  It  was 
clear,  comprehensive,  sagacious  and  correct;  with  a  most 
acute  and  subtile  faculty  of  discrimination ;  a  fertility  of  ex 
pedient  which  could  never  be  exhausted ;  a  dexterity  of  ad 
dress  which  never  lost  an  advantage  and  never  gave  one ; 
and  a  capacity  for  continued  and  unremitting  application, 
which  was  perfectly  invincible.  As  a  lawyer  and  a  states 
man,  he  had  few  equals  ;  no  superiors.  For  parliamentary 
management,  he  was  without  a  rival.  With  all  these  ad 
vantages  of  person,  manners,  address,  and  intellect,  he  was 
also  a  speaker  of  distinguished  eminence.  He  had  that  sil 
ver  voice*  of  which  Cicero  makes  such  frequent  and  honour 
able  mention — an  articulation  uncommonly  distinct — a  peren 
nial  stream  of  transparent,  cool,  and  sweet  elocution  ;  and 
the  power  of  presenting  his  arguments  with  great  simplicity 
and  striking  effect.  He  was  always  graceful,  argumentative, 
persuasive  ;  never  vehement,  rapid,  or  abrupt.  He  could 
instruct  and  delight ;  but  he  had  no  pretensions  to  those  high 
powers  which  are  calculated  to  "  shake  the  human  soul." 

George  Wythe,  also  a  member  of  the  House,  was  confes 
sedly  among  the  first  in  point  of  abilities.  There  is  a  story 
circulated,  as  upon  his  own  authority,  that  he  was  initiated 
by  his  mother  in  the  Latin  classics.!  Be  this  as  it  may,  it  is 

*  Vox  argentea.     See  the  Brutus,  passim. 

t  I  heard  it  from  the  late  Judge  Nelson,  his  relation. 
I  6* 


66  WIRT'S  LIFE   OF 

certain  that  he  had  raised  upon  the  original  foundation, 
whencesoever  acquired,  a  superstructure  of  ancient  literature 
which  has  been  rarely  equalled  in  this  country.  He  was 
perfectly  familiar  with  the  authors  of  Greece  and  Rome ; 
read  them  with  the  same  ease,  and  quoted  them  with  the 
same  promptitude  that  he  could  the  authors  in  his  native 
tongue.  He  carried  his  love  of  antiquity  rather  too  far ;  for 
he  frequently  subjected  himself  to  the  charge  of  pedantry ; 
and  his  admiration  of  the  gigantic  writers  of  Queen  Eliza 
beth's  reign,  had  unfortunately  betrayed  him  into  an  imita 
tion  of  their  quaintness.  Yet,  with  all  this  singularity  of  taste, 
he  was  a  man  of  great  capacity ;  powerful  in  argument ; 
frequently  pathetic ;  and  elegantly  keen  and  sarcastic  in  re 
partee.  He  was  long  the  rival  of  Mr.  Pendleton  at  the  bar, 
whom  he  equalled  as  a  common  lawyer,  and  greatly  sur 
passed  as  a  civilian :  but  he  was  too  open  and  direct  in  his 
conduct,  and  possessed  too  little  management,  either  with  re 
gard  to  his  own  temper  or  those  of  other  men,  to  cope  with 
so  cool  and  skilful  an  adversary.  Though  a  full  match  for 
Mr.  Pendleton  in  the  powers  of  fair  and  solid  reasoning,  Mr. 
Pendleton  could,  whenever  he  pleased,  and  would,  whenever 
it  was  necessary,  tease  him  with  quibbles,  and  vex  him  with 
sophistries,  until  he  destroyed  the  composure  of  his  mind,  and 
robbed  him  of  his  strength.  No  man  was  ever  more  entirely 
destitute  of  art  than  Mr.  Wythe.  He  knew  nothing,  even  in 
his  profession,  and  never  would  know  any  thing  of  "  crooked 
and  indirect  by-ways."  Whatever  he  had  to  do,  was  to  be 
done  openly,  avowedly,  and  above-board.  He  would  not, 
even  at  the  bar,  have  accepted  of  success  on  any  other  terms. 
This  simplicity  and  integrity  of  character,  although  it  some 
times  exposed  him  to  the  arts  and  sneers  of  the  less  scrupu 
lous,  placed  him  before  his  countrymen  on  the  ground  which 


PATRICK     HENRY.  67 

Cesar  wished  his  wife  to  occupy ;  he  was  not  only  pure,  but 
above  all  suspicion.  The  unaffected  sanctity  of  his  princi 
ples,  united  with  his  modesty  and  simple  elegance  of  man 
ners,  his  attic  wit,  his  stores  of  rare  knowledge,  his  capacity 
for  business,  and  the  real  power  of  his  intellect,  not  only 
raised  him  to  great  eminence  in  public,  but  rendered  him  a 
delightful  companion,  and  a  most  valuable  friend. 

But  Richard  Henry  Lee  was  the  Cicero  of  the  house.  His 
face  itself  was  on  the  Roman  model ;  his  nose  Cesarean ; 
the  port  and  carriage  of  his  head,  leaning  persuasively  and 
gracefully  forward ;  and  the  whole  contour  noble  and  fine. 
Mr.  Lee  was,  by  far,  the  most  elegant  scholar  in  the  house. 
He  had  studied  the  classics  in  the  true  spirit  of  criticism.  His 
taste  had  that  delicate  touch,  which  seized  with  intuitive  cer 
tainty  every  beauty  of  an  author,  and  his  genius  that  native 
affinity  which  combined  them  without  an  effort.  Into  every 
walk  of  literature  and  science,  he  had  carried  this  mind  of 
exquisite  selection,  and  brought  it  back  to  the  business  of  life, 
crowned  with  every  light  of  learning,  and  decked  with  every 
wreath,  that  all  the  muses  and  all  the  graces  could  entwine. 
Nor  did  those  light  decorations  constitute  the  whole  value  of 
its  freight.  He  possessed  a  rich  store  of  historical  and  political 
knowledge,  with  an  activity  of  observation,  and  a  certainty 
of  judgment,  that  turned  that  knowledge  to  the  very  best 
account.  He  was  not  a  lawyer  by  profession ;  but  he  un 
derstood  thoroughly  the  constitution  both  of  the  mother-coun 
try  and  her  colonies;  and  the  elements  also  of  the  civil 
and  municipal  law.  Thus,  while  his  eloquence  was  free 
from  those  stiff  and  technical  restraints  which  the  habits  of 
forensic  speaking  are  so  apt  to  generate,  he  had  all  the  legal 
learning  which  is  necessary  to  a  statesman.  He  reasoned 
well,  and  declaimed  freely  and  splendidly.  The  note  of  his 


68  WIRT'S    LIFE    OF 

voice  was  deeper  and  more  melodious  than  that  of  Mr.  Pen- 
dleton.  It  was  the  canorous  voice*  of  Cicero.  He  had  lost 
the  use  of  one  of  his  hands,  which  he  kept  constantly  covered 
with  a  black-silk  bandage,  neatly  fitted  to  the  palm  of  his 
hand,  but  leaving  his  thumb  free  ;  yet,  notwithstanding  this 
disadvantage,  his  gesture  was  so  graceful  and  so  highly  finish 
ed,  that  it  was  said  he  had  acquired  it  by  practising  before  a 
mirror.f  Such  was  his  promptitude,  that  he  required  no 
preparation  for  debate.  He  was  ready  for  any  subject,  as 
soon  as  it  was  announced ;  and  his  speech  was  so  copious, 
so  rich,  so  mellifluous,  set  off  with  such  bewitching  cadence 
of  voice,  and  such  captivating  grace  of  action,  that,  while  you 
listened  to  him,  you  desired  to  hear  nothing  superior,  and 
indeed  thought  him  perfect.  He  had  a  quick  sensibility  and 
a  fervid  imagination,  which  Mr.  Pendleton  wanted.  Hence 
his  orations  were  warmer  and  more  delightfully  interesting , 
yet  still,  to  him  those  keys  were  not  consigned  which  could 
unlock  the  sources  either  of  the  strong  or  tender  passions. 
His  defect  was,  that  he  was  too  smooth  and  too  sweet.  His 
style  bore  a  striking  resemblance  to  that  of  Herodotus,  as  de 
scribed  by  the  Roman  orator  :  "  He  flowed  on,  like  a  quiet 
and  placid  river,  without  a  ripple ."J  He  flowed,  too,  through 
banks  covered  with  all  the  fresh  verdure  and  variegated  bloom 
of  the  spring ;  but  his  course  was  too  subdued,  and  too  beau 
tifully  regular.  A  cataract,  like  that  of  Niagara,  crowned 
with  overhanging  rocks  and  mountains,  in  all  the  rude  and 
awful  grandeur  of  nature,  would  have  brought  him  nearer  to 
the  standard  of  Homer  and  of  Henry. 

*  Vox  canora.    See  the  Brutus,  passim. 

t  Edmund  Randolph. 

J  Sine  ullis  salebris,  quasi  sedatus  amnis,  fiuit.     Orat.  XII.  39. 


PATRICK     HENRY.  69 

l 

These  were  some  of  the  stars  of  first  magnitude  that 
shone  in  the  house  of  burgesses  in  the  year  1765.  There 
was  yet  a  cluster  of  minor  luminaries,  which  it  were  endless 
to  delineate,  but  whose  blended  rays  contributed  to  form  that 
uncommon  galaxy  in  which  the  plebeian  Henry  was  now 
called  upon  to  take  his  place.  What  had  he  to  enable  him 
to  cope  with  all  this  lustre  of  talents  and  erudition  ?  Very 
little  more  than  the  native  strength  of  his  character;  a  con 
stancy  of  soul,  which  no  array  of  power  could  shake ;  a  ge 
nius  that  designed  with  all  the  boldness  of  Angelo,  and  an 
imagination  that  coloured  with  all  the  felicity  of  Titian. 

It  has  been  already  stated,  that  Mr.  Henry  was  elected 
with  express  reference  to  an  opposition  to  the  stamp  act.  It 
was  not,  however,  expected  by  his  constituents,  or  meditated 
by  himself,  that  he  should  lead  the  opposition.  The  addresses 
of  the  preceding  year,  made  to  the  king,  lords,  and  commons, 
in  which  so  strong  a  truth  had  been  stated,  as  that  the  stamp 
act,  if  persisted  in,  would  reduce  the  colony  to  a  state  of  sla 
very,  founded  a  hope  that  those  who  had  commenced  the 
opposition  by  remonstrance,  would  continue  to  give  it  the 
eclat  of  their  high  names,  by  resistance  of  a  bolder  character, 
if  bolder  should  be  necessary.  Mr.  Henry  waited,  therefore, 
to  file  in  under  the  first  champion  that  should  raise  the  ban 
ner  of  colonial  liberty.  In  the  meantime,  another  subject 
unexpectedly  occurred  to  call  him  up,  and  it  was  on  this 
other  that  he  made  his  debut  in  the  house. 

The  incident  has  been  stated  to  me  in  the  following  terms, 
by  a  gentleman  who  heard  the  debate  :— *"  The  gentlemen 
of  this  country  had,  at  that  time,  become  deeply  involved  in 
that  state  of  indebtment  which  has  since  ended  in  so  general 

*  Mr.  Jefferson. 


70  WIRT'SLIFEOF 

a  crush  of  their  fortunes.  Mr.  Robinson,  the  speaker,  was 
also  the  treasurer,  an  officer  always  chosen  by  the  assembly. 
He  was  an  excellent  man,  liberal,  friendly,  and  rich.  He 
had  been  drawn  in  to  lend,  on  his  own  account,  great  sums 
of  money  to  persons  of  this  description;  and  especially  those 
who  were  of  the  assembly.  He  used  freely  for  this  purpose 
the  public  money,  confiding  for  its  replacement  in  his  own 
means,  and  the  securities  he  had  taken  on  those  loans. 
About  this  time,  however,  he  became  sensible  that  his  deficit 
to  the  public  was  become  so  enormous,  as  that  a  discovery 
must  soon  take  place,  for  as  yet  the  public  had  no  suspicion 
of  it.  He  devised,  therefore,  with  his  friends  in  the  assembly, 
a  plan  for  a  public  loan  office,  to  a  certain  amount,  from 
which  moneys  might  be  lent  on  public  account,  and  on  good 
fended  security  to  individuals.  I  find,  in  Royle's  Virginia 
Gazette  of  the  17th  of  May,  1765,  this  proposition  for  a  loan 
office  presented,  its  advantages  detailed,  and  the  plan  explain 
ed.  It  seems  to  have  been  done  by  a  borrowing  member, 
from  the  feeling  with  which  the  motives  are  expressed,  and 
to  have  been  preparatory  to  the  intended  motion.  Between 
the  17th  and  30th,  (the  latter  being  the  date  of  Mr.  Henry's 
resolutions  on  the  stamp  act,)  the  motion  for  a  loan  office  was 
accordingly  brought  forward  in  the  house  of  burgesses  ;  and 
had  it  succeeded,  the  debts  due  to  Robinson  on  these  loans 
would  have  been  transferred  to  the  public,  and  his  deficit 
thus  completely  covered.  This  state  of  things,  however,  was 
not  yet  known  :  but  Mr.  Henry  attacked  the  scheme  on  other 
general  grounds,  in  that  style  of  bold,  grand,  and  over 
whelming  eloquence,  for  which  he  became  so  justly  celebrated 
afterward.  I  had  been  intimate  with  him  from  the  year 
1759-60,  and  felt  an  interest  in  what  concerned  him ;  and  I 
can  never  forget  a  particular  exclamation  of  his  in  the  deb  ite, 


PATRICK     HENRY.  71 

which  electrified  his  hearers.  It  had  been  urged,  that,  from 
certain  unhappy  circumstances  of  the  colony,  men  of  sub 
stantial  property  had  contracted  debts,  which,  if  exacted  sud 
denly,  must  ruin  them  and  their  families,  but  with  a  little 
indulgence  of  time,  might  be  paid  with  ease.  'What,  sir'' 
exclaimed  Mr.  Henry,  in  animadverting  on  this,  '  is  it  pro 
posed  then,  to  reclaim  the  spendthrift  from  his  dissipation  and; 
extravagance,  by  filling  his  pockets  with  money  ?'  These 
expressions  are  indelibly  impressed  on  my  memory.  He  laid 
open  with  so  much  energy  the  spirit  of  favouritism,  on  which 
the  proposition  was  founded,  and  the  abuses  to  which  it  would 
lead,  that  it  was  crushed  in  its  birth.  He  carried  with  him 
all  the  members  of  the  upper  counties,  and  left  a  minority 
composed  merely  of  the  aristocracy  of  the  country.  From 
this  time  his  popularity  swelled  apace ;  and  Mr.  Robinson 
dying  the  year  afterward,  his  deficit  was  brought  to  light, 
and  discovered  the  true  object  of  the  proposition."* 

*  In  reply  to  this  communication,  I  stated  my  surprise  that  no  evi 
dence  of  this  motion  was  to  be  found  on  the  journals  of  the  day,  and 
begged  my  correspondent  to  explain  it,  which  he  does  very  satisfacto 
rily  in  the  following  terms  : — "Abortive  motions  are  not  always  en 
tered  on  the  journals,  or  rather  they  are  rarely  entered.  It  is  the  mo 
dern  introduction  of  yeas  and  nays  which  has  given  the  means  ot 
placing  a  rejected  motion  on  the  journals :  and  it  is  likely  that  the 
speaker,  who,  as  treasurer,  was  to  be  the  loan  officer,  and  had  the  di 
rection  of  the  journals,  would  choose  to  omit  an  entry  of  the  motion 
in  this  case.  This  accounts  sufficiently  for  the  absence  of  any  trace 
of  the  motion  on  the  journals.  There  was  no  suspicion  then,  (so  fai 
at  least  as  I  knew,)  that  Mr.  Robinson  had  used  the  public  money  in 
private  loans  to  his  friends,  and  that  the  secret  object  of  this  scheme 
was  to  transfer  those  debtors  to  the  public,  and  thus  clear  his  accounts. 
I  have  diligently  examined  the  names  of  the  members  on  the  journals 
of  1764,  to  see  if  any  were  still  living,  to  whose  memory  we  might  re 
cur  on  this  subject ;  but  I  find  not  a  single  one  now  remaining  in  life." 


72  win T'S   LIFE    OF 

The  exclamation  above  quoted  by  my  correspondent  as 
having  electrified  Mr.  Henry's  hearers,  is  a  striking  specimen 
of  one  of  his  great  excellences  in  speaking ;  which  was,  the 
power  of  condensing  the  substance  of  a  long  argument,  into 
one  short  pithy  question.  The  hearer  was  surprised,  in 
finding  himself  brought  so  suddenly  and  so  clearly  to  a  just 
conclusion.  He  could  scarcely  conceive  how  it  was  effected  ; 
and  could  not  fail  to  regard,  with  high  admiration,  the  power 
of  that  intellect  which  could  come  at  its  ends  by  so  short  a 
course ;  and  work  out  its  purposes  with  the  quickness  and 
certainty  of  magic. 

The  aristocracy  were  startled  at  such  a  phenomenon 
from  the  plebeian  ranks.  They  could  not  be  otherwise  than 
indignant  at  the  presumption  of  an  obscure  and  unpolished 
rustic,  who,  without  asking  the  support  or  countenance  of 
any  patron  among  themselves,  stood  upon  his  own  ground, 
and  bearded  them  even  in  their  den.  That  this  rustic 
should  have  been  able,  too,  by  his  single  strength,  to  baffle 
their  whole  phalanx  and  put  it  to  rout,  was  a  mortification  too 
humiliating  to  be  easily  borne.  They  affected  to  ridicule 
his  vicious  and  depraved  pronunciation,  the  homespun 
coarseness  of  his  language,  and  his  hypocritical  canting  in 
relation  to  his  humility  and  ignorance.  But  they  could  not 
help  admiring  and  envying  his  wonderful  gifts ;  that  thor 
ough  knowledge  of  the  human  heart  which  he  displayed 
that  power  of  throwing  his  reasoning  into  short  and  clear 
aphorisms ;  which,  desultory  as  they  were,  supplied,  in  a 
great  degree,  the  place  of  method  arid  logic ;  that  imagination 

This  debate  must  have  been  in  1765  instead  of  1764.  The  only  sur 
viving  member  of  that  year  is  Paul  Carrington,  sen.,  esq.,  who  took 
uis  seat  in  the  house  after  the  debate  in  question. 


PATRICK     HENRY.  73 

so  copious,  poetic,  and  sublime ;  the  irresistible  power  with 
which  he  caused  every  passion  to  rise  at  his  bidding ;  and 
ail  the  rugged  might  and  majesty  of  his  eloquence.  From 
this  moment,  he  had  no  friends  on  the  aristocratic  side  of  the 
house.  They  looked  upon  him  with  envy  and  with  terror 
They  were  forced  at  length  to  praise  his  genius ;  but  that 
praise  was  wrung  from  them,  with  painful  reluctance.  They 
would  have  denied  it  if  they  could.  They  would  have  over 
shadowed  it ;  and  did  at  first  try  to  overshadow  it,  by  mag 
nifying  his  defects  ;  but  it  would  have  been  as  easy  for  them 
to  have  eclipsed  the  splendour  of  the  sun,  by  pointing  to  his 
spots. 

If,  however,  he  had  lost  one  side  of  the  house  by  his  un 
daunted  manner  of  blowing  up  this  aristocratic  project,  he  had 
made  the  other  side  his  fast  friends.  They  had  listened 
with  admiration,  unmixed  with  envy.  Their  souls  had  been 
struck  with  amazement  and  rapture,  and  thrilled  with  un 
speakable  sensations  which  they  had  never  felt  before.  The 
man,  too,  who  had  produced  these  effects,  was  one  of  them 
selves.  This  was  balm  to  them ;  for  there  is  a  wide  differ 
ence  between  that  distant  admiration,  which  we  pay  as  a 
tax,  due  to  long-standing  merit,  in  superior  rank,  and  that 
throbbing  applause  which  rushes  spontaneously  and  warm 
from  the  heart,  toward  a  new  man  and  an  equal.  There  is 
always  something  of  latent  repining,  approaching  to  resent 
ment,  mingled  with  that  respect  which  is  exacted  from  us 
by  rank  ;  and  we  feel  a  secret  gratification  in  seeing  it  hum 
bled.  In  the  same  proportion,  we  love  the  man  who  has 
given  us  this  gratification,  and  avenged,  as  it  were,  our  own 
past  indignities.  Such  was  precisely  the  state  of  feeling  which 
Mr.  Henry  produced,  on  the  present  occasion.  The  lower 
ranks  of  the  house  beheld  and  heard  him  with  gratitude  and 
K 


74  WIRT'SLIFEOF 

veneration.  They  regarded  him  as  a  sturdy  and  wide-spread 
ing  oak,  beneath  whose  cool  and  refreshing  shade  they  might 
take  refuge  from  those  beams  of  aristocracy  that  had  played 
upon  them  so  long,  with  rather  an  unpleasant  heat. 

After  this  victorious  sally  upon  their  party,  the  former  lead 
ers  of  the  house  were  not  very  well  disposed  to  look  with  a 
favourable  eye  on  any  proposition  which  he  should  make. 
They  had  less  idea  of  contributing  to  foster  the  popularity 
and  pamper  the  power  of  a  man,  who  seemed  born  to  be 
their  scourge,  and  to  drag  down  their  ancient  honours  to  the 
dust.  It  was  in  this  unpropitious  state  of  things,  after  hav 
ing  waited  in  vain  for  some  step  to  be  taken  on  the  other 
side  of  the  house,  and  when  the  session  was  within  three 
days  of  its  expected  close,  that  Mr.  xjieiu^uiu^oducedi  his 
celebrated  resolutions  oitli 


I  will  not  withhold  from  the  reader  a  note  of  this  transac 
tion  from  the  pen  of  Mr.  Henry  himself.  It  is  a  curiosity, 
and  highly  worthy  of  preservation.  After  his  death,  there 
was  found  among  his  papers  one  sealed,  and  thus  endorsed  : 
"  Enclosed  are  the  resolutions  of  the  Virginia  assembly  in 
1765,  concerning  the  stamp  act.  Let  my  executors  open  this 
paper."  Within  was  found  the  following  copy  of  the  resolu 
tions,  in  Mr.  Henry's  handwriting  :  — 

"  Resolved,  That  the  first  adventurers  and  settlers  of  this, 
his  majesty's  colony  and  dominion,  brought  with  them,  and 
transmitted  to  their  posterity,  and  all  other  his  majesty's  sub 
jects,  since  inhabiting  in  this,  his  majesty's  said  colony,  all 
the  privileges,  franchises,  and  immunities,  that  have  at  any 
time  been  held,  enjoyed,  and  possessed  by  the  people  ot 
Great  Britain. 

"  Resolved,  That  by  two  royal  charters,  granted  by  King 
James  the  first,  the  colonists,  aforesaid,  are  declared  entitled 


PATRICK  HENRY.  75 

to  all  the  privileges,  liberties,  and  immunities  of  denizens 
and  natural-born  subjects,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  as  if 
they  had  been  abiding  and  born  within  the  realm  of  Eng 
land. 

"  Resolved,  That  the  taxation  of  the  people  by  themselves, 
or  by  persons  chosen  by  themselves  to  represent  them,  who 
can  only  know  what  taxes  the  people  are  able  to  bear,  and 
the  easiest  mode  of  raising  them,  and  are  equally  affected  by 
such  taxes  themselves,  is  the  distinguishing  characteristic  of 
British  freedom,  and  without  which  the  ancient  constitution 
cannot  subsist. 

^"Resolved,  That  his  majesty's  liege  people  of  this  most 
ancient  colony,  have  uninterruptedly  enjoyed  the  right  of  be 
ing  thus  governed  by  their  own  assembly,  in  the  article  of 
their  taxes  and  internal  police,  and  that  the  same  hath  never 
been  forfeited,  or  any  other  way  given  up,  but  hath  been 
constantly  recognised  by  the  king  and  people  of  Great  Britain. 

"  Resolved,  therefore,  That  the  general  assembly  of  this 
colony  have  the  sole  right  and  power  to  lay  taxes  and  im 
positions  upon  the  inhabitants  of  this  colony ;  and  that  every 
attempt  to  vest  such  power  in  any  person  or  persons  what 
soever,  other  than  the  general  assembly  aforesaid,  has  a  mani 
fest  tendency  to  destroy  British  as  well  as  American  freedom." 

On  the  back  of  the  paper  containing  those  resolutions,  is 
the  following  endorsement,  which  is  also  in  the  handwriting 
of  Mr.  Henry  himself: — "  The  within  resolutions  passed  the 
house  of  burgesses  in  May,  1765.  They  formed  the  first  op 
position  to  the  stamp  act,  and  the  scheme  of  taxing  America 
by  the  British  parliament.  All  the  colonies,  either  through 
fear,  or  want  of  opportunity  to  form  an  opposition,  or  from  in 
fluence  of  some  kind  or  other,  had  remained  silent.  I  had 
been  for  the  first  time  elected  a  burgess,  a  few  days  before, 


76  WIRT'S   LIFE   OF 

was  young,  inexperienced,  unacquainted  with  the  forms  of 
the  house,  and  the  members  that  composed  it.  Finding  the 
men  of  weight  averse  to  opposition,  and  the  commencement 
of  the  tax  at  hand,  and  that  no  person  was  likely  to  step  forth, 
I  determined  to  venture,  and  alone,  unadvised,  and  unassist 
ed,  on  a  blank  leaf  of  an  old  law-book*  wrote  the  within. 
Upon  offering  them  to  the  house,  violent  debates  ensued. 
Many  threats  were  uttered,  and  much  abuse  cast  on  me,  by 
the  party  for  submission.  After  a  long  and  warm  contest, 
the  resolutions  passed  by  a  very  small  majority,  perhaps  of 
one  or  two  only.  The  alarm  spread  throughout  America 
with  astonishing  quickness,  and  the  ministerial  party  were 
overwhelmed.  The  great  point  of  resistance  to  British  taxa 
tion  was  universally  established  in  the  colonies.  This  brought 
on  the  war,  which  finally  separated  the  two  countries,  and 
gave  independence  to  ours.  Whether  this  will  prove  a  bles 
sing  or  a  curse  will  depend  upon  the  use  our  people  make  of 
the  blessings  which  a  gracious  God  hath  bestowed  on  us.  If 
they  are  wise,  they  will  be  great  and  happy.  If  they  are  of 
a  contrary  character,  they  will  be  miserable.  Righteousness 
alone  can  exalt  them  as  a  nation. 

"  Reader !  whoever  thou  art,  remember  this  ;  and  in  thy 
sphere,  practise  virtue  thyself,  and  encourage  it  in  others. — 
P.  HENRY." 

Such  is  the  short,  plain,  and  modest  account  which  Mr 
Henry  has  left  of  this  transaction.    But  other  interesting  par 
ticulars  have  been  handed  down  by  tradition,  and  live  still  in 
the  recollection  of  one,  at  least,  now  in  life,  as  the  reader  will 
presently  see  by  his  own  statement. 

The   resolutions   having  been  prepared  in  the   manner 

*  Judge  Tyler  says,  "an  old  Coke  upon  Littleton." 


PATRICK    HENRY.  77 

which  has  been  mentioned,  were  shown  by  Mr.  Henry  to 
two  members  only,  before  they  were  offered  to  the  house  ; 
these  were  John  Fleming,  a  most  respectable  member  for    | 
the  county  of  Cumberland,  and  George  Johnston,  for  that 
of  Fairfax."* 

The  reader  will  remark  that  the  first  four  resolutions,  as 
left  by  Mr.  Henry,  do  little  more  than  reaffirm  the  principles 
advanced  in  the  address,  memorial,  and  remonstrance  of  the 
preceding  year ;  that  is,  they  deny  the  right  assumed  by 
the  British  parliament,  and  assert  the  exclusive  right  of  the 
colony  to  tax  itself.  There  is  an  important  difference,  how 
ever,  between  those  state  papers  and  the  resolutions,  in  the 
point  of  time  and  the  circumstances  under  which  they  were 
brought  forward,  for  the  address  and  other  state  papers  were 
prepared  before  the  stamp  act  had  passed ;  they  do  nothing 
more,  therefore,  than  call  in  question,  by  a  course  of  respect 
ful  and  submissive  reasoning,  the  propriety  of  exercising  the 
right,  before  it  had  been  exercised;  and  they  are,  moreover, 
addressed  to  the  legislature  of  Great  Britain,  by  the  way  of 
prevention,  and  in  a  strain  of  decent  remonstrance  and  ar- 

*  Judge  Winston,  on  the  authority  of  Mr.  Henry  himself.  The  re 
port  of  the  day,  that  Mr.  Johnston  drew  the  resolutions,  is  certainly 
unfounded.  Mr.  Johnston,  now  only  known  from  the  circumstance  V 
of  his  having  seconded  Mr.  Henry's  resolutions,  is  one  of  those  many 
friends  of  liberty  who  are  sliding  fast  from  the  recollection  of  their 
country,  and  who  deserve  to  be  rescued  from  oblivion,  by  a  more  par 
ticular  notice  than  it  is  in  my  power  to  bestow  upon  them.  Of  Mr. 
Johnston,  I  can  learn  only,  that  he  was  a  lawyer  in  the  Northern 
Neck,  highly  respectable  in  his  profession ;  a  scholar,  distinguished 
for  vigour  of  intellect,  cogency  of  argument,  firmness  of  character, 
love  of  order,  and  devotion  to  the  cause  of  rational  liberty— in  short, 
exactly  calculated  by  his  love  of  the  cause,  and  the  broad  and 
solid  basis  of  his  understanding,  to  uphold  the  magnificent  structure 
of  Henry's  eloquence. 

7* 


78  WIRT'S    LIFE     OF 

gument.  But  at  the  time  when  Mr.  Henry  offered  his  reborn 
tions,  the  stamp  act  had  passed;  and  the  resolutions  were 
intended  for  the  people  of  the  colonies.     It  will  also  be  ob 
served,  that  the  fifth  resolution,  as  given  by  Mr.  Henry,  con 
tains  the  bold  assertion,  that  every  attempt  to  vest  the  power 
of  taxation  over  the  colonies  in  any  person  or  persons  what 
soever,  other  than  the  general  assembly,  had  a  manifest  ten 
dency  to  destroy  British,   as  well  as  American  freedom ; 
which  was  asserting,  in  effect,  that  the  act  which  had  passed 
was  an  encroachment  on  the  rights  and  liberties  of  the  peo 
pie,  and  amounted  to  a  direct  charge  of  tyranny  and  despo 
tism  against  the  British  king,  lords,  and  commons. 

It  is  not  wonderful  that  even  the  friends  of  colonial  rights 
who  knew  the  feeble  and  defenceless  situation  of  this  coun 
try,  should  be  startled  at  a  step  so  bold  and  daring.  That 
effect  was  produced ;  and  the  resolutions  were  resisted,  not 
only  by  the  aristocracy  of  the  house,  but  by  many  of  those 
who  were  afterward  distinguished  among  the  brightest  cham 
pions  of  American  liberty. 

The  following  is  Mr.  Jefferson's  account  of  this  transaction 
"  Mr  Henry  moved  and  Mr.  Johnston  seconded  these  re 
solutions  successively.  They  were  opposed  by  Messrs.  Ran 
dolph,  Bland,  Pendleton,  Wythe,  and  all  the  old  members, 
whose  influence  in  the  house  had,  till  then,  been  unbroken 
They  did  it,  not  from  any  question  of  our  rights,  but  on  the 
ground  that  the  same  sentiments  had  been,  at  their  preceding 
session,  expressed  in  a  more  conciliatory  form,  to  which  the 
answers  were  not  yet  received.  But  torrents  of  sublime  elo 
quence  from  Henry,  backed  by  the  solid  reasoning  of  John 
ston,  prevailed.  The  last,  however,  and  strongest  resolution 
was  carried  but  by  a  single  vote.  The  debate  on  it  was 
most  bloody.  I  was  then  but  a  student,  and  stood  at  the 


PATRICK    HENRY.  79 

door  of  communication  between  the  house  and  the  lobby  (foi 
as  yet  there  was  no  gallery)  during  the  whole  debate   and 
vote ;  and  I  well  remember  that,  after  the  numbers   on  the 
division  were  told  and  declared  from  the  chair,  Peyton  Ran 
dolph  (the   attorney-generl)     came  out  at  the  door  where  I 
was  standing,  and  said,  as  he  entered  the  lobby  :  *  By  God,  I 
would  have  given  500  guineas  for  a  single  vote :'   for  one 
would  have  divided  the  house,  and  Robinson  was  in  the 
chair,  who  he  knew  would  have  negatived  the  resolution. 
Mr.  Henry  left  town  that  evening ;  and  the  next  morning, 
before  the  meeting  of  the  house,  Col.  Peter  Randolph,  then 
of  the  council,  came  to  the  hall  of  burgesses,  and  sat  at  the 
clerk's  table  till  the  house-bell  rang,  thumbing  over  the  vol 
umes  of  journals,  to  find  a  precedent  for  expunging  a  vote  of 
the  house,  which,  he  said,  had  taken  place  while  he  was  a 
member  or  clerk  of  the  house,  I  do  not  recollect  which.     1 
stood  by  him  at  the  end  of  the  table,  a  considerable  part  of 
the  time,  looking  on,  as  he  turned  over  the  leaves  ;  but  I  do 
not  recollect  whether  he  found  the  erasure.     In  the  mean 
time,  some  of  the  timid  members,  who  had  voted  for  the 
strongest  resolution,  had  become  alarmed ;    and  as  soon  as 
the  house  met,  a  motion  was  made  and  carried  to  expunge 
it  from  the  journals.     There  being  at  that  day  but  one  printer, 
and  he  entirely  under  control  of  the  governor,  I  do  not  know 
that  this  resolution  ever  appeared  in  print.     I  write  this  from 
memory :  but  the  impression  made  on  me  at  the  time  was 
such  as  to  fix  the  facts  indelibly  in  my  mind.     I  suppose  the 
original  journal  was  among  those  destroyed  by  the  Britisli 
or  its  obliterated  face  might  be  appealed  to      And  here  I  will 
state,  that  Burk's  statement  of  Mr.  Henry's  consenting  to  with 
draw  two  resolutions,  by  way  of  compromise  with  his  oppo 
nents,  is  entirely  erroneous." 


so  WIRT'SLIFEOF 

The  manuscript  journal  of  the  day  is  not  to  be  found 
whether  it  was  suppressed,  or  casually  lost,  must  remain  a 
matter  of  uncertainty  ;  it  disappeared,  however,  shortly  after 
the  session,*  and  therefore  could  not  have  been  among  the 
documents  destroyed  by  the  British  during  the  revolutionary 
war,  as  conjectured  by  Mr.  Jefferson. 

In  the  interesting  fact  of  the  erasure  of  the  fifth  resolution, 
Mr.  Jefferson  is  supported  by  the  distinct  recollection  of  Mr. 
Paul  Carrington,  late  a  judge  of  the  court  of  appeals  of  Vir 
ginia,  and  the  only  surviving  member,  it  is  believed,  of  the 
house  of  burgesses  of  1765.  The  statement  is  also  confirmed, 
if  indeed  further  confirmation  were  necessary,  by  the  circum 
stance,  that  instead  of  the  five  resolutions,  so  solemnly  re 
corded  by  Mr.  Henry,  as  having  passed  the  house,  the  journal 
of  the  day  exhibits  only  the  following  four  : — 

"  Resolved,  That  the  first  adventurers  and  settlers  of  this 
his  majesty's  colony  and  dominion  of  Virginia,  brought  with 
them  and  transmitted  to  their  posterity,  and  all  others  his 
majesty's  subjects,  since  inhabiting  in  this  his  majesty's  said 
colony,  all  the  liberties,  privileges,  franchises,  and  immunities, 
that  have  at  any  time  been  held,  enjoyed,  and  possessed  by 
the  people  of  Great  Britain. 

"  Resolved,  That  by  two  royal  charters,  granted  by  King 
James  I.,  the  colonists  aforesaid  are  declared  entitled  to  all 
liberties,  privileges,  and  immunities  of  denizens  and  natural 
subjects  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  as  if  they  had  been 
abiding  and  born  within  the  realm  of  England. 

"  Resolved,  That  the  taxation  of  the  people,  by  themselves, 

or  by  persons  chosen  by  themselves  to  represent  them,  who 

« 

*  "  The  manuscript  journal  was  missing  ten  years  before  hostilities 
between  the  two  countries;  therefore  could  not  have  been  destroyed 
as  you  supposed  probable." — PAUL  CARRINGTON,  senr. 


PATRICK    HENRY  81 

can  only  know  what  taxes  the  people  are  able  to  bear,  or  the 
easiest  method  of  raising  them ;  and  must,  themselves,  be 
affected  by  every  tax  laid  on  the  people,  is  the  only  security 
against  a  burdensome  taxation,  and  the  distinguishing  charac 
teristic  of  British  freedom,  without  which  the  ancient  con 
stitution  cannot  exist. 

"  Resolved,  That  his  majesty's  liege  people  of  this  his  most, 
ancient  and  loyal  colony  have,  without  interruption,  enjoyed 
the  inestimable  right  of  being  governed  by  such  laws  respect 
ing  their  internal  polity  and  taxation,  as  are  derived  from 
their  own  consent,  with  the  approbation  of  their  sovereign, 
or  his  substitute ;  and  that  the  same  hath  never  been  forfeited 
or  yielded  up,  but  hath  been  constantly  recognised  by  the 
kings  and  people  of  Great  Britain."* 

*  Such  are  the  resolutions,  as  they  were  amended  and  passed  by 
the  house,  with  the  exception  of  that  which  was  rescinded  on  the  next 
day. — Journals  of  1765,  page  150.  Several  historical  mistakes  have 
been  committed  in  relation  to  these  resolutions.  Judge  Marshall,  in 
his  life  of  Washington,  (vol.  2d,  note  4th,  of  the  appendix,)  gives  an 
erroneous  copy  of  them,  from  the  book  called  Prior  Documents  ;  in 
this,  he  is  set  right  by  the  journals :  he  represents  six  as  having  been 
offered,  and  two  rejected;  his  authority  for  this,  again,  is  the  Prior 
Documents :  but  he  is  contradicted  by  Mr.  Henry  himself,  who  repre 
sents  five  only  as  having  been  offered  and  passed,  and  Mr.  Henry's 
written  statement  accords  with  the  clear  and  strong  recollection  both 
of  Mr.  Jefferson  and  Mr.  Carrington.  Mr.  Burk  gives  the  same  erro 
neous  copy  with  Judge  Marshall,  and  adds  to  them  several  mistakes 
of  his  own  :  he  says  the  resolutions  passed,  hy  a  large  majority, /orfy 
only  having  voted  against  them.  Mr.  Burk  did  not  know  the  num 
ber  of  the  members,  or  he  would  have  known  that  a  vote  of  forty,  in 
the  negative,  would  not  have  left  a  large  majority  in  favour  of  the 
resolutions.  But  we  have  the  authority  of  Mr.  Henry  himself,  (as 
we  have  seen,)  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  and  of  Mr.  Camngton,  for  saying  that 
the  resolutions  were  carried  by  a  majority  of  one  only  ;  on  what  au- 
L 


82  WIRT'S    LIFE     OF 

"  By  these  resolutions,"  says  Mr.  Jefferson,  "  and  his  man 
ner  of  supporting  them,  Mr.  Henry  took  the  lead  out  of  the 
hands  of  those  who  had,  theretofore,  guided  the  proceedings 
of  the  house  ;  that  is  to  say,  of  Pendleton,  Wythe,  Bland, 
Randolph."  V  It  was,  indeed,  the  measure  which  raised  him 
to  the  zenith  of  his  glory.  He  had  never  before  had  a  sub 
ject  which  entirely  matched  his  genius,  and  was  capable  of 
drawing  out  all  the  powers  of  his  mind.  It  was  remarked 
of  him,  throughout  his  life,  that  his  talents  never  failed  to  rise 
with  the  occasion,  and  in  proportion  with  the  resistance  which 
he  had  to  encounter.  The  nicety  of  the  vote,  on  his  last 
resolution,  proves  that  this  was  not  a  time  to  hold  in  reserve 
any  part  of  his  forces.  It  was,  indeed,  an  Alpine  passage, 
under  circumstances  even  more  unpropitious  than  those  of 

thority  Mr.  Burk  speaks,  we  are  not  informed.  His  whole  account  of  Mr. 
Henry's  proposal  on  the  next  day,  to  secede,  and  of  his  finally  giving 
up  two  resolutions,  for  the  sake  of  unanimity,  is  contradicted  again  by 
Mr.  Henry,  Mr.  Jefferson,  and  Mr.  Carrington  ;  there  is  no  such  state 
ment  in  the  papers  of  the  day,  and  the  author  does  not  condescend  to 
give  us  his  authority.  Mr.  Burk's  skeleton  of  Mr.  Henry's  speech,  on 
that  occasion,  is  believed  to  be  equally  apocryphal ;  the  author  of  these 
sketches  has  not  been  able  to  procure  a  single  authentic  trace  of  that 
speech,  except  the  anecdote  presently  given  in  the  text.  Mr.  Burk 
concludes  his  account  of  this  affair  thus :  "  Struck  with  the  alarming 
tendency  of  these  proceedings,  the  governor  suddenly  dissolved  the 
assembly,"  &c. — Vol.  3d,  page  310.  In  opposition  to  this  statement, 
we  are  told  by  Mr.  Henry  himself,  that  when  he  offered  his  resolu 
tions,  the  session  was  near  its  regular  close  ;  and  the  journals  prove 
the  fact  to  have  been  so.  Mr.  Henry  left  town  for  home  on  the  even 
ing  of  the  day  on  which  his  resolutions  were  adopted  ;  it  was  on  the 
next  day  (consequently  in  his  absence)  that  the  motion  to  rescind  was 
made;  and  the  printed  journals  show  that  day  and  the  day  following 
to  have  been  occupied  with  the  usual  business  which  closes  a  legisla 
tive  session. 


PATRICK    HENRY.  83 

Hannibal ;  for  he  had  not  only  to  fight,  hand  to  hand,  the 
powerful  party  who  were  already  in  possession  of  the  heights, 
but  at  the  same  instant  to  cheer  and  animate  the  timid  band 
of  followers,  that  were  trembling,  and  fainting,  and  drawing 
back  below  him.  It  was  an  occasion  that  called  upon  him 
to  put  forth  all  his  strength,  and  he  did  put  it  forth,  in  such 
a  manner  as  man  never  did  before.  The  cords  of  argument 
with  which  his  adversaries  frequently  flattered  themselves 
that  they  had  bound  him  fast,  became  packthreads  in  his 
hands.  He  burst  them  with  as  much  ease  as  the  unshorn 
Samson  did  the  bands  of  the  Philistines.  He  seized  the 
pillars  of  the  temple,  shook  them  terribly,  and  seemed  to 
threaten  his  opponents  with  ruin.  It  was  an  incessant  storm 
of  lightning  and  thunder,  which  struck  them  aghast.  The 
fainthearted  gathered  courage  from  his  countenance,  and 
cowards  became  heroes  while  they  gazed  upon  his  exploits. 
It  was  in  the  midst  of  this  magnificent  debate,  while  he 
was  descanting  on  the  tyranny  of  the  obnoxious  act,  that  hr. 
exclaimed  in  a  voice  of  thunder,  and  with  the  look  of  a  god  • 
"  Cesar  had  his  Brutus — Charles  the  First,  his  Cromwell 
and  George  the  Third — ('  Treason !'  cried  the  speaker — '  Trea 
son,  treason  !'  echoed  from  every  part  of  the  house.  It  was 
one  of  those  trying  moments  which  is  decisive  of  character. 

:  Henry  faltered  not  for  an  instant ;  but  rising  to  a  loftier 
attitude,  and  fixing  on  the  speaker  an  eye  of  the  most  deter- 

\  mined  fire,  he  finished  his  sentence  with  the  firmest  empha 
sis) — may  profit  by  their  example.  If  this  be  treason,  make 
the  most  of  it."* 

*  I  had  frequently  heard  the  above  anecdote  of  the  cry  of  treason, 
but  with  such  variations  of  the  concluding  words,  that  I  began  to  doubt 
whether  the  whole  might  not  be  fiction.  With  a  view  to  ascertain  the 
truth,  therefore,  I  submitted  it  to  Mr.  Jefferson,  as  it  had  been  given 


84  WIRT'S    LIFE     OF 

This  was  the  only  expression  of  defiance  which  escaped 
him  during  the  debate.  He  was,  throughout  life,  one  of  the 
most  perfectly  and  uniformly  decorous  speakers  that  ever 
took  the  floor  of  the  house.  He  was  respectful  even  to  hu 
mility;  and  the  provocation  must  be  gross  indeed  which 
would  induce  him  to  notice  it.  Yet,  when  he  did  notice  it, 
better  were  it  for  the  man  never  to  have  been  born,  than  to 
fall  into  the  hands  of  such  an  adversary.  One  lash  from  his 
scourge  was  infamy  for  life  ;  his  look  of  anger  or  contempt 
was  almost  death. 

After  this  debate,  there  was  no  longer  a  question  among 
the  body  of  the  people,  as  to  Mr.  Henry's  being  the  first 
statesman  and  orator  in  Virginia.  Those,  indeed,  whose  ranks 
he  had  scattered,  and  whom  he  had  thrown  into  the  shade, 
still  tried  to  brand  him  with  the  names  of  declaimer  and  dem 
agogue.  But  this  was  obviously  the  effect  of  envy  and 
mortified  pride.  A  mere  declaimer  and  demagogue  could 
never  have  gained,  much  less  have  kept  for  more  than  thirty 
years,  that  ground  which  Mr.  Henry  held ;  with  a  people,  too, 
so  cool,  judicious,  firm,  and  virtuous,  as  those  who  achieved 
the  American  revolution. 

From  the  period  of  which  we  have  been  speaking,  Mr. 

Henry  became  the  idol  of  the  people  of  Virginia ;  nor  was  his 

/  name  confined  to  his  native  state.     His  light  and  heat  were 

seen  and  felt  throughout  the  continent ;  and  he  was  every 

where  regarded  as  the  great  champion  of  colonial  liberty. 

The  impulse  thus  given  by  Virginia,  was  caught  by  the 

to  me  by  Judge  Tyler,  and  this  is  his  answer : — "  I  well  remember  the 
cry  of  treason,  the  pause  of  Mr.  Henry  at  the  name  of  George  III., 
and  the  presence  of  mind  with  which  he  closed  his  sentence,  and 
baffled  the  charge  vociferated."  The  incident,  therefore,  becomes 
authentic  history. 


PATRICK    HENRY.  85 

other  colonies.  Her  resolutions  were  every  where  adopted 
with  progressive  variations.  The  spirit  of  resistance  became 
bolder  and  bolder,  until  the  whole  continent  was  in  a  flame  ; 
and  by  the  first  of  November,  when  the  stamp  act  was,  ac 
cording  to  its  provisions,  to  have  taken  effect,  its  execution 
had  become  utterly  impracticable.* 

*  The  chronicles  of  the  day  exhibit,  in  a  manner  very  curious  and 
interesting,  the  progress  of  these  feelings.  We  have  already  given  a 
specimen  of  the  drooping  spirit  of  the  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  on  the 
first  annunciation  of  the  stamp  act ;  but  after  Mr.  Henry  had  touched 
with  his  match  the  train  of  American  courage,  its  scintillations  were 
seen,  sparkling  and  flashing,  on  every  page  of  this  paper.  Thus,  in 
the  paper  of  June  20th,  1775 : — "  We  learn  from  the  northward,  that 
the  stamp  act  is  to  take  effect  in  America  on  All  Saints'  day,  the  first 
of  November  next.  In  the  year  1755,  on  the  1st  of  November,  hap 
pened  that  dreadful  and  memorable  earthquake  which  destroyed  the 
city  of  Lisbon." 

8 


SECTION  III. 

AT  the  opening  of  the  next  session,  the  speaker  an 
nounced  the  repeal  of  the  stamp  act ;  and  the  house  of 
burgesses,  in  a  paroxysm  of  feeling,  voted  a  statue  to  the 
king,  and  an  obelisk  to  the  British  patriots  by  whose  exertions 
the  repeal  had  been  effected.  But  before  these  monuments 
of  national  gratitude  could  be  executed  the  effervescence 
subsided;  and  on  the  9th  of  December,  1766,  the  bill  which 
had  been  prepared  for  that  purpose,  was  postponed  to  the  first 
day  of  the  next  session  ;  after  which,  we  hear  of  it  no  more. 

At  the  session  of  1766,  a  question  of  great  interest  in 
those  days,  and  one  of  real  importance  to  the  colony,  came 
on  to  be  discussed  in  the  house  of  burgesses.  Mr.  Robin 
son,  who  had  so  long  held  the  joint  offices  of  speaker  and 
treasurer,  was  now  dead.  The  general  fact  of  his  delin 
quency  as  treasurer  was  understood,  although  the  sum  was 
not  yet  ascertained ;  and  that  delinquency,  whatever  it 
might  be,  was  alleged  to  have  arisen  principally  from  loans 
made  to  members  of  the  house  of  burgesses.  As  the  speaker, 
although  elected  in  the  first  instance  by  the  house,  could  not 
act  until  approved  by  the  governor,  and,  when  so  approved, 
was  in  office  for  seven  years,  re-eligible  indefinitely — and,  as 
in  the  recent  instance  of  Mr.  Robinson,  it  had  been  discov 
ered,  that  an  office  so  held  was  too  apt  to  generate  a  devotion 

86 


PATRICK     HENRY.  87 

to  the  purposes  of  the  British  court — it  was  considered  by 
the  patriots  in  the  house,  as  a  measure  of  sound  policy,  to 
take  out  of  the  hands  of  the  speaker  so  formidable  an  engine 
of  corruption  and  power  as  the  treasury  of  the  colony.*  A 
motion  was  therefore  made  to  separate  the  office  of  treasurer 
from  the  speaker's  chair,  which  was  supported  by  Mr.  Henry 
with  his  usual  ability.  An  arduous  struggle  ensued.  Inno 
vations,  however  correct  in  themselves,  never  fail  to  startle 
those  who  have  grown  gray  in  a  veneration  for  the  existing 
order  of  things.  They  fancy  that  they  see  in  every  impor 
tant  change  an  indirect  blow  at  the  established  government, 
and  at  the  foundations  of  their  own  property.  This  union 
of  the  speaker's  chair  with  the  office  of  treasurer,  was  one  of 
those  errors  in  policy  which  time  had  consecrated,  and  it  re 
quired  a  hand  both  steady  and  skilful  to  remove  the  veil  and 
expose  its  deformity.  That  hand  was  furnished  by  Mr.  Hen 
ry.  The  union  of  boldness  and  decency  which  composed 
his  character,  of  decisive  energy  in  the  support  of  his  own 
opinions,  and  respectful  tenderness  toward  those  of  others, 
fitted  him  peculiarly  for  the  discharge  of  this  duty.  The 
house  admired,  on  this  occasion,  the  facility  with  which  he 
could  adapt  himself  to  any  subject.  He  had  that  founda 
tion  of  strong  natural  sense,  without  which  genius  is  a  mis 
fortune  ;  an  instinctive  accuracy  of  judgment,  which  always 

*  A  correspondent  furnishes  the  following  note  on  this  passage  :— 
"  There  was  but  one  clear  and  sound  bottom  on  which  the  separation 
of  the  chair  and  the  treasury  was  decided.  The  legislature  made  all 
the  levies  of  money  payable  into  the  hands  of  their  speaker,  over  whom 
they  had  control.  The  only  hold  the  governor  had  on  him  was,  a 
negative  on  his  appointment  as  speaker  at  every  new  election,  which 
amounted,  consequently,  to  a  negative  on  him  as  treasurer,  and  dis 
posed  him,  so  far.  to  be  obsequious  to  the  governor." 


88  WIRTSLIFEOF 

proportioned  his  efforts  to  the  occasion.  He  was  never  guilty 
of  the  ridiculous  and  common  error  amongst  young  members, 
of  attempting  to  force  the  subject  beyond  its  nature — of 
swelling  trifles  into  consequence,  and  working  the  ocean  into 
tempest, 

"  To  waft  a  feather,  or  to  drown  a  fly." 

It  is  almost  superfluous  to  add,  that  such  a  cause,  in  the 
hands  of  such  an  advocate,  did  not  fail  of  success.  The  mo 
tion  for  separating  the  two  offices  being  carried,  a  committee 
was  appointed  to  examine  the  accounts  of  the  late  treasurer, 
and  their  report  disclosed  an  enormous  deficit,  exceeding  a 
hundred  thousand  pounds. 

On  the  separation  of  the  offices  of  speaker  and  treasurer, 
Peyton  Randolph,  the  attorney-general,  was  elected  to  the 
chair;  and  Robert  C.  Nicholas,  an  eminent  lawyer  and  a 
most  virtuous  man,  to  the  office  of  treasurer. 

After  having  tried  his  strength  for  several  years  on  the 
legislative  floor,  against  some  of  the  brightest  champions  of 
the  bar,  Mr.  Henry  came,  in  the  year  1769,  to  the  bar  itself 
of  the  general  court.  "  The  profits  of  his  practice,  thereto 
fore,  (says  my  informant,)  must  have  been  very  moderate. 
For  about  this  time,  he  informed  me  that  he  thought  his  prop 
erty  was  not  worth  more  than  fifteen  hundred  pounds  ;  ad 
ding,  that  if  he  could  only  make  it  double  that  sum,  he  should 
be  entirely  content."* 

At  this  bar,  he  entered  into  competition  with  all  the  first, 
legal  characters  in  the  colony,  some  of  whom  had  been  edu 
cated  at  the  Temple.     Mr.  Pendleton  and  Mr.  Wythe  have 
been  already  mentioned :  but,  in  addition  to  these,  he  had  to 

*  Judge  Winston. 


PATRICK     HENRY.  89 

encounter  Mr.  John  Randolph,  Mr.  Thompson  Mason,  Mr. 
Robert  C.  Nicholas,  Mr.  Mercer,  Mr.  Blair,  and  Mr.  Jefferson  : 
all  of  them  masters  of  the  learning  of  their  profession,  and  all 
of  them  men  of  pre-eminent  abilities. 

It  cannot  be  expected  from  Mr.  Henry's  legal  preparation, 
that  he  was  able  to  contend  with  these  gentlemen  on  a  mere 
question  of  law.  He  wanted  that  learning  whose  place  no 
splendour  of  genius  can  supply  to  the  lawyer ;  and  he  wanted 
those  habits  of  steady  and  persevering  application,  without 
which  that  learning  is  not  to  be  acquired.  It  is  said,  indeed, 
that  he  was  wofully  deficient  as  a  lawyer ;  so  little  acquaint 
ed  with  the  fundamental  principles  of  his  profession,  and  so 
little  skilled  in  that  system  of  artificial  reasoning  on  which 
the  common  law  is  built,  as  not  to  be  able  to  see  the  remote 
bearings  of  the  reported  cases ;  and  hence,  it  has  been  said, 
that  it  happened  with  him  not  unfrequently,  whenever  he 
did  attempt  to  argue  a  question  of  law,  to  furnish  authorities 
destructive  to  his  own  cause.  Yet  he  never  did  and  never 
could  vanquish  his  aversion  to  the  systematic  study  of  the 
law.  On  questions  turning  on  the  laws  of  nations,  and  even 
on  the  maritime  law,  whose  basis  is  natural  reason  and  jus 
tice,  his  vigour  of  mind  made  him  occasionally  very  great 
One  of  my  correspondents,  for  example,  relates  to  me  an  in 
stance  of  his  appearing  in  the  court  of  admiralty,  under  the 
regal  government,  in  behalf  of  a  Spanish  captain,  whose 
vessel  and  cargo  had  been  libelled.  A  gentleman  who  was 
present,  and  who  was  very  well  qualified  to  judge,  was  heard 
to  declare,  after  the  trial  was  over,  that  he  never  heard  a 
more  eloquent  or  argumentative  speech  in  his  life  ;  that  Mi. 
Henry  was  on  that  occasion  greatly  superior  to  Mr.  Pendle- 
ton,  Mr.  Mason,  or  any  other  counsel  who  spoke  to  the  sub 
ject  ;  and  that  he  was  astonished  how  Mr.  Henry  could  have 
M 


90  WIRT'SLIFEOF 

acquired  such  a  knowledge  of  the  maritime  law,  to  which,  it 
was  believed,  he  had  never  before  turned  his  attention. 

But  this  special  preparation  on  a  given  subject,  and  that 
subject,  too,  depending  on  the  liberal  and  equitable  principles 
of  the  maritime  law,  is  not  at  all  at  variance  with  the  report 
of  his  inefficiency,  on  questions  to  be  decided  by  the  com 
mon  law  merely.  The  power  of  arguing  questions  of  the 
latter  description  to  advantage,  requires  the  mind,  in  the 
first  place,  to  be  deeply  imbued  with  that  peculiar  spirit  of 
reasoning  which  reigns  throughout  the  whole  system  of  the 
common  law ;  and,  in  the  next,  it  requires  a  cool  and  clear 
accuracy  of  thinking,  and  an  elaborate  exactness  and  nicety 
in  the  deduction  of  thought,  to  which  Mr.  Henry's  early  and 
inveterate  habits  of  indolence,  as  well  as  the  sublime  and  ex 
cursive  fervour  of  his  genius,  were  altogether  hostile. 

It  was  on  questions  before  a  jury,  that  he  was  in  his  nat 
ural  element.  There,  his  intimate  knowledge  of  human 
nature,  and  the  rapidity  as  well  as  justness  of  his  inferences, 
from  the  flitting  expressions  of  the  countenance,  as  to  what 
was  passing  in  the  hearts  of  his  hearers,  availed  him  fully. 
The  jury  might  be  composed  of  entire  strangers,  yet  he 
rarely  failed  to  know  them,  man  by  man,  before  the  evidence 
was  closed.  There  was  no  studied  fixture  of  features  that 
could  long  hide  the  character  from  his  piercing  and  experi 
enced  view.  The  slightest  unguarded  turn  of  countenance, 
or  motion  of  the  eye,  let  him  at  once  into  the  soul  of  the  man 
whom  he  was  observing.  Or,  if  he  doubted  whether  his  con 
clusions  were  correct,  from  the  exhibitions  of  countenance 
auring  the  narration  of  the  evidence,  he  had  a  mode  of  play 
ing  a  prelude,  as  it  were,  upon  the  jury,  in  his  exordium, 
which  never  failed  to  "wake  into  life  each  silent  string,"  and 
fchow  him  the  whole  compass  as  well  as  pitch  of  the  instru- 


PATRICK    HENRY.  91 

merit ;  and,  indeed,  (if  we  may  believe  all  the  concurrent 
accounts  of  his  exhibitions  in  the  general  court,)  the  most  ex 
quisite  performer  that  ever  "  swept  the  sounding  lyre"  had 
not  a  more  sovereign  mastery  over  its  powers,  than  Mr.  Henry 
had  over  the  springs  of  feeling  and  thought  that  belong  to  a 
jury.  There  was  a  delicacy,  a  taste,  a  felicity  in  his  touch,  that 
was  perfectly  original,  and  without  a  rival.  His  style  of  ad 
dress,  on  these  occasions,  is  said  to  have  resembled  very  much 
that  of  the  scriptures.  It  was  strongly  marked  with  the  same 
simplicity,  the  same  energy,  the  same  pathos.  He  sounded  no 
alarm  ;  he  made  no  parade,  to  put  the  jury  on  their  guard.  It 
was  all  so  natural,  so  humble,  so  unassuming,  that  they  were 
carried  imperceptibly  along,  and  attuned  to  his  purpose,  until 
some  master-touch  dissolved  them  into  tears.  His  language 
of  passion  was  perfect.  There  was  no  word  "  of  learned 
length  or  thundering  sound,"  to  break  the  charm.  It  had 
almost  all  the  stillness  of  solitary  thinking.  It  was  a  sweet 
revery,  a  delicious  trance.  His  voice,  too,  had  a  wonderful 
effect.  He  had  a  singular  power  of  infusing  it  into  a  jury, 
and  mixing  its  notes  with  their  nerves,  in  a  manner  which 
it  is  impossible  to  describe  justly ;  but  which  produced  a  thril 
ling  excitement,  in  the  happiest  concordance  with  his  designs. 
No  man  knew  so  well  as  he  did  what  kind  of  topics  to  urge 
to  their  understandings ;  nor  what  kind  of  simple  imagery  to 
present  to  their  hearts.  His  eye,  which  he  kept  riveted  upon 
them,  assisted  the  process  of  fascination,  and  at  the  same 
time  informed  him  what  theme  to  press,  or  at  what  instant 
to  retreat,  if  by  rare  accident  he  touched  an  unpropitious 
string.  And  then  he  had  such  an  exuberance  of  appropriate 
thoughts  of  apt  illustrations,  of  apposite  images,  and  such  a 
melodious  and  varied  roll  of  the  happiest  words,  that  the 
hearer  was  never  wearied  by  repetition,  and  never  winced 


92  WIRTSLIFEOF 

from  an  apprehension  that  the  intellectual  treasures  of  the 
speaker  would  be  exhausted.* 

The  defence  of  criminal  causes  was  his  great  professional 
forte.  It  seems  that  the  eighth  day  of  the  general  court  was 
formerly  set  apart  for  criminal  business.  Mr.  Henry  made 
little  or  no  figure  during  the  civil  days  of  the  court ;  but  on 
the  eighth  day  he  was  the  monarch  of  the  bar.  These  causes 
brought  him  into  direct  collision  with  Mr.  John  Randolph, 
who  had  now  succeeded  Peyton  as  the  attorney-general. 

Mr.  Randolph,  it  has  been  remarked,  was,  in  person  and 
manners,  among  the  most  elegant  gentlemen  in  the  colony, 
and  in  his  profession  one  of  the  most  splendid  ornaments  of 

*  A  striking  example  of  this  witchery  of  his  eloquence,  even  on  com 
mon  subjects,  was  related  by  a  very  respectable  gentleman,  the  late 
Major  Joseph  Scott,  the  marshal  of  this  state.  This  gentleman  had 
been  summoned,  at  great  inconvenience  to  his  private  affairs,  to  attend 
as  a  witness  a  distant  court,  in  which  Mr.  Henry  practised.  The  cause 
which  had  carried  him  thither  having  been  disposed  of,  he  was  setting 
out  in  great  haste  to  return,  when  the  sheriff  summoned  him  to  serve 
on  a  jury.  This  cause  was  represented  as  a  complicated  and  impor 
tant  one ;  so  important  as  to  have  enlisted  in  it  all  the  most  eminent 
members  of  the  har.  He  was  therefore  alarmed  at  the  prospect  of  a 
long  detention,  and  made  an  unavailing  effort  with  the  court  to  get 
himself  discharged  from  the  jury.  He  was  compelled  to  take  his  seat. 
When  his  patience  had  been  nearly  exhausted  by  the  previous  speak 
ers,  Mr.  Henry  rose  to  conclude  the  cause,  and  having  much  matter 
to  answer,  the  major  stated  that  he  considered  himself  a  prisoner  for 
the  evening,  if  not  for  the  night.  But,  to  his  surprise,  Mr.  Henry 
appeared  to  have  consumed  not  more  than  fifteen  minutes  in  the  reply ; 
and  he  would  scarcely  believe  his  own  watch,  or  those  of  the  other 
jurymen,  when  they  informed  him  that  he  had  in  reality  been  speak 
ing  upward  of  two  hours.  So  powerful  was  the  charm  by  which  he 
could  bind  the  senses  of  his  hearers,  and  make  even  the  most  impa 
lieu'  unconscious  of  the  lapse  of  time. 


PATRICK    HENRY.  93 

the  bar.  He  was  a  polite  scholar,  as  well  as  a  profound  law 
yer,  and  his  eloquence  also  was  of  a  high  order.  His  voice, 
action,  style,  were  stately,  and  uncommonly  impressive  ;  but 
gigantic  as  he  was  in  relation  to  other  men,  he  was  but  a 
pigmy,  when  opposed  in  a  criminal  trial  to  the  arch  magician, 
Henry.  In  those  cases  Mr.  Henry  was  perfectly  irresistible. 
He  adapted  himself,  without  effort,  to  the  character  of  the 
cause ;  seized,  with  the  quickness  of  intuition,  its  defensible 
point,  and  never  permitted  the  jury  to  lose  sight  of  it.  Sir 
Joshua  Reynolds  has  said  of  Titian,  that,  by  a  few  strokes 
of  his  pencil,  he  knew  how  to  mark  the  image  and  character 
of  whatever  object  he  attempted  ;  and  produced  by  this  means 
a  truer  representation  than  any  of  his  predecessors,  who  fin 
ished  every  hair.  In  like  manner,  Mr.  Henry,  by  a  few 
master-strokes  upon  the  evidence,  could  in  general  stamp 
upon  the  cause  whatever  image  or  character  he  pleased  ;  and 
convert  it  into  tragedy  or  comedy,  at  his  sovereign  will,  and 
with  a  power  which  no  efforts  of  his  adversary  could  counter 
act.  He  never  wearied  the  jury  by  a  dry  and  minute  analysis 
of  the  evidence  ;  he  did  not  expend  his  strength  in  finishing 
the  hairs;  he  produced  all  his  high  effect  by  those  rare 
master-touches,  and  by  the  resistless  skill  with  which,  in  a 
very  few  words,  he  could  mould  and  colour  the  prominent 
facts  of  a  cause  to  his  purpose.  He  had  wonderful  address, 
too,  in  leading  off  the  minds  of  his  hearers  from  the  contem 
plation  of  unfavourable  points,  if  at  any  time  they  were  too 
stubborn  to  yield  to  his  power  of  transformation.  He  beguiled 
the  hearer  so  far  from  them,  as  to  diminish  them  by  distance, 
and  soften,  if  not  entirely  cast  into  shade,  their  too  strong 
natural  colours.  At  this  distance,  too,  he  had  a  better  op 
portunity  of  throwing  upon  them  a  false  light,  by  an  appa 
rently  casual  ray  of  refraction  from  other  points  m  the  evi- 


94  WIRT'S    LIFE     OF 

dence,  whose  powers  no  man  better  knew  how  to  array  and 
concentrate,  in  order  to  disguise  or  eclipse  an  obnoxious  fact. 
It  required  a  mind  of  uncommon  vigilance,  and  most  intract 
able  temper,  to  resist  this  charm  with  which  he  decoyed 
away  his  hearers;  it  demanded  a  rapidity  of  penetration 
which  is  rarely,  if  ever,  to  be  found  in  the  jury-box,  to  detect 
the  intellectual  juggle  by  which  he  spread  his  nets  around 
them ;  it  called  for  a  stubbornness  and  obduracy  of  soul 
which  does  not  exist,  to  sit  unmoved  under  the  pictures  of 
horror  or  of  pity  which  started  from  his  canvass.  They 
might  resolve,  if  they  pleased,  to  decide  the  cause  against  him, 
and  to  disregard  every  thing  which  he  could  urge  in  the  de 
fence  of  his  client.  But  it  was  all  in  vain.  Some  feint,  in 
an  unexpected  direction,  threw  them  off  their  guard,  and  they 
were  gone;  some  happy  phrase,  burning  from  the  soul, 
some  image  fresh  from  Nature's  mint,  and  bearing  her  own 
beautiful  and  genuine  impress,  struck  them  with  delightful 
surprise,  and  melted  them  into  conciliation;  and  conciliation 
toward  Mr.  Henry,  was  victory  inevitable.  In  short,  he  un 
derstood  the  human  character  so  perfectly;  knew  so  well  all 
its  strength  and  all  its  weaknesses,  together  with  every  path 
and  by-way  which  winds  around  to  the  citadel  of  the  best- 
fortified  heart  and  mind,  that  he  never  failed  to  take  them, 
either  by  stratagem  or  storrn.  Hence  he  was,  beyond  doubt, 
the  ablest  defender  of  criminals  in  Virginia,  and  will  probably 
never  be  equalled  again. 

It  has  been  observed,  that  Mr.  Henry's  knowledge  of  the 
common  law  was  extremely  defective ;  but  his  attendance 
upon  the  general  court  was  calculated  to  cure  that  defect,  in 
a  considerable  degree.  All  legal  questions  of  magnitude  or 
difficulty  came  before  that  tribunal,  either  originally  or  by 
appeal ;  and  he  had  continual  opportunities  of  hearing  them 


PATRICK     HENRY  95 

d.scussed  in  the  ablest  manner,  by  the  brightest  luminaries  of 
the  American  bar.  His  was  a  mind  on  which  nothing  was 
lost ;  on  which  no  useful  seed  could  be  cast  without  shooting 
into  all  the  luxuriance  of  which  its  nature  was  susceptible 
Thus  improving  every  hint,  and  ramifying  every  principle 
which  was  brought  into  his  view,  there  is  reason  to  believe 
that  a  few  years  must  have  made  him  not  only  a  master  of 
the  general  canons  of  property,  but  of  the  modifications  and 
exceptions  of  more  frequent  occurrence,  by  which  those  ca 
nons  are  restrained  and  governed.  In  support  of  this  con 
clusion,  I  find  that  in  January  1773,  Robert  C.  Nicholas, 
who  had  enjoyed  the  first  practice  at  the  bar,  and  who,  by 
virtue  of  his  office  of  treasurer,  was  forced  to  relinquish  that 
practice,  committed,  by  a  public  advertisement,  his  unfinish 
ed  business  to  Mr.  Henry ;  a  step  which  a  man  so  remark 
ably  scrupulous  in  the  discharge  of  every  moral  duty  would 
not  have  taken,  had  there  been  any  incompetency  on  the  part 
of  his  substitute. 

The  British  ministry,  however,  did  not  permit  Mr.  Henry 
to  waste  himself  in  forensic  exertions.    The  joy  of  the  Amer 
icans,  on  the  repeal  of  the  stamp  act,  was  very  short-lived. 
That  measure  had  not  been,  on  the  part  of  the  British  par 
liament,  a  voluntary  sacrifice  to  truth  and  right.     The  min 
istry  and  their  friends  disavowed  this   ground ;    and  were 
forward  on  every  occasion,  to  convince  the  colonies  that  they 
had  nothing  to  expect,  either  from  the  clemency  or  the  mag 
nanimity  of  the  British  cabinet.     Thus  on  a  question  of  sup 
plies  for  the  army,  in  the  session  of  parliament  of  1766-7,  a 
motion  was  made  in  the  house  of  commons,  that  the  reve 
nues  arising  and  to  arise  in  America,  be  applied  to  subsist. 
ing  the  troops  now  there,  and  those  other  regiments  which  it 
is  proposed  to  send ;  in  support  of  which,  that  brilliant  po- 


96  WIRT  S    LIFE    OF 

litical  meteor,  Charles  Townsend,  urged,  among  other  things, 
*  the  propriety  of  more  troops  being  sent  to  America, 
and  of  their  being  quartered  in  the  large  towns.  He 
said,  that  he  had  a  plan  preparing,  which  he  would  lay  be 
fore  the  house,  for  the  raising  of  supplies  in  America. 
That  the  legislative  authority  of  Great  Britain  extended  to 
every  colony  in  every  particular.  That  the  distinction 
between  internal  and  external  taxes  was  nonsense ;  and  that 
he  voted  for  the  repeal  of  the  stamp  act,  not  because  it  was 
not  a  good  act,  but  because,  at  that  time,  there  appeared  a 
propriety  in  repealing  it.  He  added,  that  he  repeated  the 
sentence,  that  the  galleries  might  hear  him,  and  after  that, 
he  did  not  expect  to  have  his  statue  erected  in  America  :  in 
all  which,  Mr.  Grenville  joined  him  fully." 

-  -^^untmmuifp1?-  "    J  J 

This  temper  "soon  tnanifested  itself  in  open  acts,  and  turned 
the  late  joy  of  the  colonies  into  mourning. 

The  first  obnoxious  measure  was  a  stern  demand  of  satis 
faction  from  the  legislatures  of  the  colonies,  for  the  injuries 
which  had  been  done  to  the  stamp  officers  and  their  ad 
herents.  The  legislature  of  Massachusetts,  of  whom  this 
demand  was  first  made,  very  respectfully,  and  with  good 
reason,  questioned  the  propriety  and  justice  of  taxing  the 
whole  colony  for  the  excesses  of  a  few  individuals,  which 
they  had  neither  prompted  nor  approved ;  for  the  sake  of 
peace,  however,  and  in  the  spirit  of  accommodation,  that  satis 
faction  was  given  ;  but  they  annexed  to  their  vote  of  satisfac 
tion  a  grant  of  pardon  to  the  rioters  ;  and,  in  England,  ac 
cording  to  the  usual  courtesy  of  that  country,  nothing  was 
said  of  the  satisfaction,  while  the  pardon  was  treated  as  a  most 
cnsolent  and  impudent  usurpation  of  the  royal  authority. 

The  next  step  was  that  suggested  by  Mr.  Townsend,  of 
quartering  large  bodies  of  troops  upon  the  chief  towns  in  the 


PATRICK  HENRV.  97 

colonies,  and  demanding  of  the  several  colonial  legislatures 
a  provision  for  their  comfortable  support  and  accommodation. 
A  measure  more  replete  with  exasperation  could  scarcely 
have  been  devised.  The  very  presence  of  those  myrmidons 
was  an  insult ;  for  it  was  a  direct  reflection  on  the  fidelity  of 
the  colonists.  Their  object  was  perfectly  understood  :  it  was 
to  curb  the  just  and  honourable  spirit  of  the  people ;  to  dragoon 
them  into  submission  to  the  parliamentary  claim  of  taxation, 
and  reduce  them  to  the  condition  of  vassals,  governed  by 
the  right  of  conquest.  The  rudeness  of  the  soldiery,  too, 
was  well  calculated  to  keep  up  and  increase  the  irritation, 
which  their  presence  alone  would  have  been  sufficient  to  ex 
cite.  In  Boston,  they  were  in  the  habit  of  stopping  the  most 
respectable  citizens  in  the  streets,  and  compelling  them  to 
answer  insulting  inquiries,  or  committing  them  to  confine 
ment  on  their  refusal,  assigning,  as  the  ground  of  their  con 
duct,  that  the  town  was  a  garrisoned  town.  In  New  York, 
they  provoked  a  contest  with  the  people,  by  making  war  upon 
a  liberty  pole,  which  was  the  first  object  of  their  earthly  de 
votions,  and  which  the  soldiers  continually  destroyed  or  at 
tempted  to  destroy,  as  soon  as  it  could  be  replaced.  And,  as 
if  all  this  insult  and  humiliation  were  not  enough,  the  colo 
nies  were  to  be  constrained  to  tax  themselves,  to  foster  and 
cherish  those  instruments  of  their  degradation. 

The  legislature  of  New  York,  in  a  tone  at  least  sufficiently 
submissive  for  the  occasion,  and  on  the  false  ground  of  the 
inability  of  the  colony,  begged  to  be  excused  from  making 
the  provision.  For  this  high  offence,  the  legislative  power, 
of  that  colony  was  abolished  by  act  of  parliament,  until  they 
should  submit  to  make  the  provision  which  was  required : 
and  they  did  submit. 

N  9 


98  WIRT'  S     LIFE     OF 

A  body  of  British  troops,  alleged  to  have  been  driven  by 
stress  of  weather  into  Boston,  in  the  recess  of  the  colonial 
legislature,  had  been  provided  for  out  of  the  public  moneys, 
by  the  governor  and  his  council.  The  legislature  met  shortly 
afterward,  and  remonstrated  against  this  unconstitutional  ap 
propriation,  with  that  Roman  firmness  and  dignity  which 
marked  the  character  of  Massachusetts  in  every  stage  of  the 
contest.  But  Governor  Bernard,  highly  indignant  at  what  he 
affected  to  consider  as  presumption,  made  such  a  communica 
tion  upon  the  subject  to  the  British  court,  as  could  have  had, 
and  could  have  been  designed  to  have,  no  other  effect  than  to 
widen  the  breach,  and  inflame  more  highly  those  animosities 
which  already  required  no  new  aggravation. 

These  military  preparations  were  well  understood  to  be  the 
harbingers  of  some  unconstitutional  act,  the  execution  of 
which  they  were  necessary  to  enforce.  Why  those  prep 
arations  were  restricted  to  the  northern  states,  and  more 
particularly  to  Massachusetts,  has  never  been  satisfactorily 
explained.  There  was  no  colony  which  resisted  with  more 
firmness  and  constancy  the  pretensions  of  the  British  parlia 
ment  than  that  of  Virginia  ;  yet  no  military  force  was  thought 
necessary,  during  the  lives  of  the  governors  Fauquier  and 
Bottetourt,  to  keep  down  the  spirit  of  rebellion  in  this  colony. 
A  solution  of  the  difficulty  may  perhaps  be  found  in  the 
character  of  the  different  governors.  Virginia  had  the  good 
fortune,  during  this  period,  to  be  governed  by  enlightened 
and  amiable  men,  who  saw  and  did  justice  to  the  motives 
and  measure  of  resistance  which  was  meditated ;  who  were 
both  able  and  willing  to  distinguish  between  reason  and 
force,  between  remonstrance  and  rebellion  ;  who  perceived 
with  pleasure,  the  spirit  of  genuine  and  unaffected  loyalty 
and  affection  for  the  parent-country,  which  mingled  itself 


PATRICK    HENRY.  99 

with  every  complaint ;  and  who,  in  their  communications  to 
the  British  court,  were  disposed  rather  "  to  extenuate,"  than 
"  to  set  down  aught  in  malice."  Whereas  Bernard,  the  gov 
ernor  of  Massachusetts,  was  the  fit  instrument  and  apt  repre 
sentative  of  the  masters  whom  he  served  :  for  he  had  all  their 
pride  and  unfeeling  insolence,  and  seems  to  have  enjoyed  a 
kind  of  fiend-like  pleasure,  in  rendering  his  province  hateful 
at  home,  by  the  most  virulent  misrepresentations ;  and  in 
drawing  down  upon  her  the  accumulated  curses  and  oppres 
sions  of  the  parent-country.* 

These  preparatory  steps  having  been  taken,  an  act  of  par 
liament  was  passed,  imposing  certain  duties  on  glass,  white 
and  red  lead,  painters'  colours,  tea,  and  paper,  imported  into 
the  colonies.  This  act  was  to  take  effect  on  the  20th  of 
November,  1767;  and,  to  insure  its  operation,  another  act 
authorized  the  king  to  appoint  a  board  of  trade  to  reside  in 
the  colonies,  and  to  instruct  them  at  his  pleasure  and  without 
limit,  as  to  the  mode  of  executing  their  duties  under  this 
law.  A  commission  accordingly  issued,  by  which  the  com 
missioners  were  armed  with  a  power  of  search  and  seizure, 
at  their  discretion ;  with  authority  to  call  for  aid  upon  the 
naval  and  military  establishments  within  the  colony;  and 
with  an  exemption  from  prosecution  or  responsibility  be- 

*  Extract  of  a  letter,  dated  London,  June  5,  1770 :— "  The  people  of 
England  now  curse  Governor  Bernard,  as  bitterly  as  those  of  America. 
Bernard  was  drove  out  of  the  Smyrna  coffee-house,  not  many  days 
since,  by  General  Oglethorpe,  who  told  him  he  was  a  dirty,  factious 
scoundrel,  and  smelled  cursed  strong  of  the  hangman ;  that  he  had 
better  leave  the  room,  as  unworthy  to  mix  with  gentlemen  of  charac 
ter,  but  that  he  would  give  him  the  satisfaction  of  following  him  to 
the  door,  had  he  any  thing  to  reply.  The  governor  left  the  house 
like  a  guilty  Coward." — Pennsylvania  Gazette,  August  30th,  1770. 


100  WIRT'SLIFEOF 

fore  any  of  the  king's  courts,  for  whatsoever  they  might  do, 
by  any  construction  of  their  commission. 

Another  measure  whicli  gave  great  offence  to  the  colonies, 
was  the  establishment  of  a  board  of  admiralty,  with  exten 
sive  powers,  supported  by  large  salaries  independent  of  the 
colonies,  yet  drawn  from  the  revenues  compulsorily  levied 
upon  them ;  and  the  appointment,  also,  of  common  law 
judges,  to  be  paid  by  the  crown  out  of  the  revenues  of  the 
colony,  and  to  hold  their  offices  during  the  king's  pleasure. 

To  all  these  outrages  the  legislatures  of  the  colonies  an 
swered  by  petitions,  memorials,  remonstrances,  and  letters, 
addressed  to  the  friends  of  colonial  liberty  in  England ;  blend 
ing,  with  the  strongest  professions  of  loyalty,  the  expression 
of  their  hope,  that  those  obnoxious  measures  would  be  recon 
sidered  and  reversed,  and  the  colonies  protected  in  their  an 
cient  and  unalienable  rights.  In  reply,  they  received  from 
the  kindest  of  their  English  friends,  only  exhortations  to  pa 
tience  under  their  sufferings ;  by  the  court-party,  menaces 
and  anathemas  were  brandished  over  their  heads ;  and  the 
commissioners  of  the  revenue,  together  with  their  auxiliaries, 
the  naval  and  military  officers  and  soldiery,  continued  to  out 
rage  and  insult  them,  both  in  their  persons  and  property. 

The  people  of  Massachusetts,  with  the  view  of  frustrating 
the  new  revenue  bill,  entered  into  an  association,  by  which 
they  bound  themselves  not  to  import  from  Great  Britain,  or 
use  any  of  the  articles  taxed ;  and  included  in  the  resolution 
every  article  of  British  manufacture  which  was  not  of  the 
first  and  most  indispensable  necessity.  The  legislature  of  that 
state  also  resolved  on  a  circular-letter  to  their  sister-colonies, 
inviting  their  concurrence  and  co-operation  toward  procuring 
relief,  in  a  constitutional  way,  from  the  grievances  under 
which  they  were  all  suffering.  This  measure  having  been 


PATRICK    HENRY.  101 

reported  by  Governor  Bernard,  with  his  usual  embellishments, 
to  the  Earl  of  Hilsborough,  the  British  minister  for  the  Amer 
ican  department,  that  minister  required  the  governor  to  de 
mand  of  the  legislature  an  immediate  rescission  of  their  reso 
lution,  on  pain  of  being  forthwith  dissolved.  They  refused 
to  rescind,  and  were  dissolved  accordingly.  The  same  min 
ister  also  addressed  a  circular-letter  to  the  governors  of  the 
other  colonies,  exhorting  them  to  crush  this  correspondence 
and  concert  amongst  the  colonial  legislatures  in  the  bud,  by 
exacting  from  them  an  assurance  that  they  would  not  answer 
the  circular  of  Massachusetts.  They  refused  to  give  such 
assurance,  and  were  in  their  turn  dissolved. 

These  violent  measures,  however,  produced  an  effect  very 
different  from  that  which  was  expected  to  flow  from  them. 
»The  dissolution  of  their  legislatures  swelled  the  catalogue  of 
then:  wrongs,  and  ministered  additional  fuel  to  the  resent 
ments  of  the  people.  The  non-importation  agreement  be 
came  general ;  and,  by  means  of  committees  established  in 
the  several  colonies,  its  execution  was  guarded  with  a  vigilance 
which  could  not  be  eluded.  A  breach  of  it  was  infamy,  in 
evitable  and  unpardonable.  Its  observance  was  a  badge  of 
honour,  by  which  the  patriot-colonist  was  proud  to  be  dis 
tinguished.  The  privation  was,  indeed,  in  many  respects 
severe,  but  the  sufferers  were  upheld  by  that  kind  of  holy 
fortitude  which  enabled  the  Christian  martyrs  to  smile 
amidst  the  flames,  and  to  triumph,  even  in  the  agonies  of 
death.  Every  grade  of  society,  all  ages,  and  both  sexes, 
kindled  in  this  sacred  competition  of  patriotism.  The  ladies 
of  the  colonies,  in  the  dawn,  and  throughout  the  whole  pro 
gress  of  the  revolution,  shone  with  pre-eminent  lustre  in  this 
war  of  fortitude  and  self-denial.  They  renounced,  without 
a  sigh,  the  use  of  the  luxuries  and  even  of  the  comforts  to 

9* 


102  WIRT'S    LIFE    OF 

which  they  had  been  accustomed  ;  and  felt  a  nobler  pride  in 
appearing  dressed  in  the  simple  productions  of  their  own 
looms,  than  they  had  ever  experienced  from  glittering  in  the 
brightest  ornaments  of  the  east. 

The  British  court  looked  upon  this  trial  of  virtuous  forti 
tude  with  surly  and  inexorable  rigour.  They  seemed  deter 
mined  to  carry  the  point,  at  every  hazard.  The  sufferings 
of  their  own  merchants  and  manufacturers  were  forgotten, 
in  the  barbarous  pleasure  with  which  they  contemplated  the 
sufferings  of  the  colonists.  It  is  not  in  human  nature  to  con 
tmue  long  to  return  good  for  evil,  affection  for  cruelty.  The 
admiration  and  devotion  of  the  colonies  for  the  parent-coun 
try  became  gradually  weaker.  This  transition  of  feeling  is 
most  interestingly  marked  in  the  chronicles  of  the  day.  The 
epithets,  "  our  kind  and  indulgent  mother,"  with  which  she 
was  wont  to  be  greeted,  were  progressively  changed  into 
"unnatural  parent — cruel  stepmother — proud,  merciless  op 
pressor — haughty,  unfeeling,  and  unrelenting  tyrant."  This 
state  of  feeling  was  aggravated  by  the  collisions  which  were 
perpetually  occurring  between  the  king's  soldiery  and  the 
people  of  the  towns  in  which  they  were  quartered.  The 
streets  of  New-York  and  of  Boston  were  the  theatres  of  con 
tinual  riots,  ending  almost  invariably  in  blood,  and  not  unfre- 
quently  in  death.  The  newspapers  of  the  day  teem  with 
the  detail  of  scenes  of  this  sort ;  and  from  the  effect  which 
they  produce  on  the  reader  at  this  distance  of  time,  it  is  not 
very  difficult  to  conceive  what  must  have  been  their  opera 
tion  on  the  people  of  that  day,  already  goaded  to  madness 
by  previous  injuries. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  record  the  series  of  measures  which 
led  to  the  dismemberment  of  the  British  empire.  This  is  the 
function  of  the  historian.  My  business  is  only  with  Mr. 


PATRICK     HENRY.  103 

Henry ;  and,  for  my  purpose,  nothing  more  is  necessary  than 
to  recall  the  general  character  of  the  contest,  for  the  purpose 
of  showing  the  part  which  he  bore  in  it.  (.The  revolution 
may  be  truly  said  to  have  commenced  with  his  resolutions 
in  1765. J  From  that  period  not  an  hour  of  settled  peace  had 
existed  between  the  two  countries.  It  is  true,  that  the  erup 
tion  produced  by  the  stamp  act  had  subsided  with  its  repeal ; 
and  the  people  had  resumed  their  ancient  settlements  and 
occupations  ;  but  there  was  no  peace  of  the  heart  or  of  the 
mind.  The  rumbling  of  the  volcano  was  still  audible,  and 
the  smoke  of  the  crater  continually  ascended,  mingled  not 
unfrequently  with  those  flames  and  masses  of  ignited  matter 
which  announced  a  new  and  more  terrible  explosion. 

These  were  "  the  times  that  tried  the  souls  of  men ;"  and 
never,  in  any  country  or  in  any  age,  did  there  exist  a  race 
of  men  whose  souls  were  better  fitted  to  endure  the  trial 
Patient  in  suffering,  firm  in  adversity,  calm  and  collected 
amid  the  dangers  which  pressed  around  them,  cool  in  council, 
and  brave  in  battle,  they  were  worthy  of  the  cause,  and  the 
cause  was  worthy  of  them. 

The  house  of  burgesses  of  Virginia,  which  had  led  the 
opposition  to  the  stamp  act,  kept  their  high  ground  during 
the  whole  of  the  ensuing  contest.  Mr.  Henry,  having  remov 
ed  again  from  Louisa  to  his  native  county,  in  the  year  1767 
or  1768,  continued  a  member  of  the  public  councils  till  the 
close  of  the  revolution ;  and  there  could  be  no  want  of  bold 
ness  in  any  body,  of  which  he  was  a  member.  The  session 
of  1768—9  was  marked  by  a  set  of  resolutions  so  strong  as  to 
have  excited  even  the  amiable  and  popular  Bottetourt  to  dis 
pleasure.  By  those  resolutions  they  reasserted,  in  the  most 
emphatic  terms,  the  exclusive  right  of  the  colony  to  tax  them 
selves  in  all  cases  whatever ;  complained  of  the  recent  acts 


104  WIRT'SLIFEOF 

of  parliament,  as  so  many  violations  of  the  British  consti 
tution;  and  remonstrated,  vigorously,  against  the  right  of 
transporting  the  freeborn  subjects  of  these  colonies  to  Eng 
land,  to  take  their  trial  before  prejudiced  tribunals,  for  of 
fences  alleged  to  be  committed  in  the  colonies.  The  tradition 
with  regard  to  these  resolutions  is,  that  they  were  agreed  to 
in  a  committee  of  the  whole  on  one  day,  but  not  reported  to 
the  house,  with  the  view  of  preventing  their  appearance  on 
the  journal  of  the  next  day,  before  they  could  be  completely 
passed  through  the  forms  of  the  house ;  apprehending,  from 
the  fate  of  the  Massachusetts  legislature,  that  a  knowledge  of 
these  resolutions,  on  the  part  of  the  governor,  would  produce 
an  immediate  dissolution  of  the  house.  When  the  house 
rose  for  the  evening,  however,  the  fact  of  their  having  pass 
ed  such  resolutions  was  whispered  to  the  governor;  and  he 
endeavoured  in  vain  to  procure  a  copy  of  them  from  the 
clerk.*  On  the  next  day,  the  house,  foreseeing  the  event, 
met  on  the  instant  of  the  ringing  of  the  bell,  and  with  closed 
doors  received  the  report  of  their  resolutions,  considered, 
adopted,  and  ordered  them  to  be  entered  upon  their  journals  ; 
which  they  had  scarcely  done  when  they  were  summoned 
to  attend  the  governor,  and  were  dissolved.  "  Mr.  Speaker," 
said  he,  "  and  gentlemen  of  the  house  of  representatives,  I 
have  heard  of  your  resolves,  and  augur  ill  of  their  effects ; 
you  have  made  it  my  duty  to  dissolve  you,  and  you  are  ac 
cordingly  dissolved." 

But  the  dissolution  of  the  house  of  burgesses  did  not 
change  the  materials  of  which  it  had  been  composed.  The 
same  members  were  re-elected  without  a  single  exception, 
and  the  same  determined  spirit  of  resistance  continued  to  dif- 

*  Mr.  Wythe. 


PATRICK    HENRY.  105 

fuse  itself  from  the  legislature  over  the  colony  which  they 
represented,  and  to  animate  by  sympathy  the  neighbouring 
colonies.  This  house  had  the  merit  of  originating  that  pow 
erful  engine  of  resistance,  corresponding  committees  between 
the  legislatures  of  the  different  colonies.*  The  measure  was 
brought  forward  by  Mr.  Dabney  Carr,  a  new  member  from 
the  county  of  Louisa,  in  a  committee  of  the  whole  house,  on 
the  12th  of  March,  1773;  and  the  resolutions,  as  adopted, 
now  stood  upon  the  journals  of  the  day,  in  the  following 
terms  : — 

"  Whereas,  the  minds  of  his  majesty's  faithful  subjects  in 
this  colony  have  been  much  disturbed  by  various  rumours 
and  reports  of  proceedings,  tending  to  deprive  them  of  their 
ancient,  legal,  and  constitutional  rights  ; 

"  And  whereas,  the  affairs  of  this  colony  are  frequently  con 
nected  with  those  of  Great  Britain,  as  well  as  the  neighbour 
ing  colonies,  which  renders  a  communication  of  sentiments 
necessary  :  in  order,  therefore,  to  remove  the  uneasiness,  and 
to  quiet  the  minds  of  the  people,  as  well  as  for  the  other  good 
purposes  above  mentioned  : — 

'Be  it  resolved,  That  a  standing  committee  of  correspond 
ence  and  inquiry  be  appointed,  to  consist  of  eleven  persons, 
to  wit :  the  Honourable  Peyton  Randolph,  esquire,  Robert  C 
Nicholas,  Richard  Bland,  Richard  H.  Lee,  Benjamin  Harri 
son,  Edmund  Pendleton,  Patrick  Henry,   Dudley   Digges, 

*  The  state  of  Massachusetts  is  entitled  to  equal  honour :  the  mea 
sures  were  so  nearly  coeval  in  the  two  states,  as  to  render  it  impossi 
ble  that  either  could  have  borrowed  it  from  the  other.  The  messen 
gers,  who  bore  the  propositions  from  the  two  states,  are  said  to  have 
crossed  each  other  on  the  way.  This  is  Mr.  Jefferson's  account  of 
it ;  and  Mrs.  Warren,  in  her  very  interesting  history  of  the  revolution, 
admits,  that  the  measure  was  original  on  the  part  of  Virginia.  See 
the  note  to  page  110  of  her  first  volume. 

o 


106 

Dabney  Carr,  Archibald  Gary,  and  Thomas  Jefferson, 
esquires,  any  six  of  whom  to  be  a  committee,  whose  busi 
ness  it  shall  be  to  obtain  the  most  early  and  authentic  in 
telligence  of  all  such  acts  and  resolutions  of  the  British  par 
liament,  or  proceedings  of  administration,  as  may  relate  to, 
or  affect  the  British  colonies  in  America ;  and  to  keep  up 
and  maintain  a  correspondence  and  communication  with  our 
sister-colonies,  respecting  those  important  considerations ; 
and  the  result  of  such  of  their  proceedings,  from  time  to 
time,  to  lay  before  this  house. 

"  Resolved,  That  it  be  an  instruction  to  the  said  commit 
tee,  that  they  do,  without  delay,  inform  themselves  particu 
larly  of  the  principles  and  authority  on  which  was  constitu 
ted  a  court  of  inquiry,  said  to  have  been  lately  held  in  Rhode 
Island,  with  powers  to  transport  persons  accused  of  offences 
committed  in  America,  to  places  beyond  the  seas,  to  be  tried. 

"  The  said  resolutions  being  severally  read  a  second  time, 
were,  upon  the  question  severally  put  thereupon,  agreed  to 
by  the  house,  nemine  contradicente. 

"  Resolved,  That  the  speaker  of  this  house  do  transmit  to 
the  speakers  of  the  different  assemblies  of  the  British  colonies 
on  the  continent,  copies  of  the  said  resolutions,  and  desire 
that  they  will  lay  them  before  their  respective  assemblies, 
and  request  them  to  appoint  some  person  or  persons  of  their 
respective  bodies,  to  communicate  from  time  to  time  with 
the  said  committee." 

In  supporting  these  resolutions,  Mr.  Carr  made  his  debut, 
and  a  noble  one  it  is  said  to  have  been.  This  gentleman 
by  profession  a  lawyer,  had  recently  commenced  his  practice 
at  the  same  bars  with  Patrick  Henry ;  and  although  he  had 
not  yet  reached  the  meridian  of  life,  he  was  considered  by 
far  the  most  formidable  rival  in  forensic  eloquence  that  Mr. 


PATRICK     HENRY.  107 

Henry  had  ever  yet  had  to  encounter.  He  had  the  advan 
tage  of  a  person  at  once  dignified  and  engaging,  and  the  man 
ner  and  action  of  an  accomplished  gentleman.  His  education 
was  a  finished  one ;  his  mind  trained  to  correct  thinking ; 
his  conceptions  quick,  and  clear,  and  strong ;  he  reasoned 
with  great  cogency,  and  had  an  imagination  which  enlight 
ened  beautifully,  without  interrupting  or  diverting  the  course 
of  his  argument.  His  voice  was  finely  toned ;  his  feelings 
acute ;  his  style  free,  and  rich,  and  various ;  his  devotion  to 
the  cause  of  liberty  verging  on  enthusiasm ;  and  his  spirit 
firm  and  undaunted,  beyond  the  possibility  of  being  shaken. 
With  what  delight  the  house  of  burgesses  hailed  this  new 
champion,  and  felicitated  themselves  on  such  an  accession  to 
their  cause,  it  is  easy  to  imagine.  But  what  are  the  hopes 
and  expectations  of  mortals ! 

"  Ostendent  terris  hunc  tantum  fata,  neque  ultra 
"  Esse  sinent — " 

In  two  months  from  the  time  at  which  this  gentleman  stood 
before  the  house  of  burgesses,  in  all  the  pride  of  health,  and 
genius,  and  eloquence — he  was  no  more  :  lost  to  his  friends, 
and  to  his  country,  and  disappointed  of  sharing  in  that  noble 
triumph  which  awaited  the  illustrious  band  of  his  compa 
triots.* 

Mr.  Carr's  resolutions  were  supported  successively  by  Mr. 
Henry,  and  Mr.  Richard  Henry  Lee,  with  their  usual  ability. 
The  reader  will  no  doubt  be  gratified  by  a  short  sketch  of 
this  assembly,  as  it  presented  itself  to  a  gentleman  who  now 
saw  it  for  the  first  time,  and  who  looked  upon  it  with  an 

*  I  cannot  withhold  from  the  reader  the  following  note  of  this  trans 
action  and  of  the  character  of  Mr.  Carr,  from  one  who  knew  him  well. 


108  WIRT'S    LIFE     OF 

eye  of  taste  and  genius  ;  the  writer  who  was  then  in  the 
ardour  of  youth,  and  a  stranger  in  the  colony,  has  since  been 
distinguished  by  holding  and  adorning  some  of  the  highest 
offices  of  the  state. 

"When  I  first  saw  Mr.  Henry,  which  was  in  March,  1773 
he  wore  a  peach-blossom-coloured  coat  and  a  dark  wig,  which 
tied  behind,  and  I  believe,  a  bag  to  it,  as  was  the  fashion  of  the 
day.  When  pointed  out  to  me  as  the  orator  of  the  assembly, 

and  heard  this  his  first  and  last  speech  in  the  house  of  representatives  : 
"  I  well  remember  the  pleasure  expressed  in  the  countenance  and  con 
versation  of  the  members  generally,  on  this  debut  of  Mr.  Carr,  and 
the  hopes  they  conceived,  as  well  from  the  talents  as  the  patriotism  it 
manifested.  But  he  died  within  two  months  after,  and  in  him  we  lost 
a  powerful  fellow-labourer.  His  character  was  of  a  high  order :  a 
spotless  integrity,  sound  judgment,  handsome  imagination,  enriched 
by  education  and  reading,  quick  and  clear  in  his  conceptions,  of  correct 
and  ready  elocution,  impressing  every  hearer  with  the  sincerity  of  the 
heart  from  which  it  flowed.  His  firmness  was  inflexible  in  whatever 
he  thought  right :  but  when  no  moral  principle  was  in  the  way,  never 
had  man  more  of  the  milk  of  human  kindness,  of  indulgence,  of  soft- 
ness,  of  pleasantry  in  conversation  and  conduct.  The  number  of  his 
friends,  and  the  warmth  of  their  affection,  were  proofs  of  his  worth  and 
of  their  estimate  of  it.  To  give  to  those  now  living  an  idea  of  the 
affliction  produced  by  his  death,  in  the  minds  of  all  those  who  knew 
him,  I  liken  it  to  that  lately  felt  by  themselves  on  the  death  of  his 
eldest  son,  Peter  Carr;  so  like  him  in  all  his  endowments  and  moral 
qualities,  and  whose  recollection  can  never  recur  without  a  deep- 
drawn  sigh  from  the  bosom  of  every  one  who  knew  him." 

Extract  from  the  Virginia  Gazette,  of  May  29,  1773. 
"  On  Sunday,  the  16th  of  May,  died,  at  Charlotteville,  in  the  30th 
year  of  his  age,  Dabney  Carr,  esquire,  attorney  at  law,  and  member 
of  assembly  for  the  county  of  Louisa.  This  excellent  person  possessed 
a  fine  genius,  and  a  benevolent  heart,  with  a  taste  for  all  that  was  po 
lite,  elegant,  or  social;  and  when  occasion  offered,  displayed  a mascu 
line  eloquence,  and  an  undaunted  love  of  liberty." 


PATRICK     HENRY.  109 

1  looked  at  him  with  no  great  prepossession.  On  the  opposite 
side  of  the  house  sat  the  graceful  Pendleton,  and  the  harmo 
nious  Richard  Henry  Lee,  whose  aquiline  nose,  and  Roman 
profile  struck  me  much  more  forcibly  than  that  of  Mr.  Henry, 
his  rival  in  eloquence.  The  distance  from  the  gallery  to  the 
chair,  near  which  these  distinguished  members  sat,  did  not 
permit  me  to  have  such  a  view  of  their  features  and  counte 
nances,  as  to  leave  a  strong  impression,  except  of  Mr.  Lee's, 
whose  profile  was  too  remarkable  not  to  have  been  noticed  at 
an  even  greater  distance.  I  was  then  between  nineteen  and 
twenty,  had  never  heard  a  speech  in  public,  except  from  the 
pulpit — had  attached  to  the  idea  I  had  formed  of  an  orator, 
all  the  advantages  of  person  which  Mr.  Pendleton  possessed, 
and  even  more — all  the  advantages  of  voice  which  delighted 
me  so  much  in  the  speeches  of  Mr.  Lee — the  fine  polish  of 
language,  which  that  gentleman  united  with  that  harmonious 
voice,  so  as  to  make  me  sometimes  fancy  that  I  was  listening 
to  some  being  inspired  with  more  than  mortal  powers  of 
embellishment,  and  all  the  advantages  of  gesture  which 
the  celebrated  Demosthenes  considered  as  the  first,  second, 
and  third  qualifications  of  an  orator.  I  discovered  neither  of 
these  qualifications  in  the  appearance  of  Mr.  Henry,  or  in  the 
few  remarks  I  heard  him  deliver  during  the  session.  It  was  at 
this  time  that  Mr.  Dabney  Carr  made  a  motion  for  appointing 
a  standing  committee  of  correspondence  with  the  other  colo 
nies.  I  was  not  present  when  Mr.  Henry  spoke  on  this 
question ;  but  was  told  by  some  of  my  fellow-collegians,  that 
he  far  exceeded  Mr.  Lee,  whose  speech  succeeded  the  next 
day.  Never  before  had  I  heard  what  I  thought  oratory  ;  and 
if  his  speech  was  excelled  by  Mr.  Henry's,  the  latter  must  have 
been  excellent  indeed.  This  was  the  only  subject  that  I  re 
collect,  which  called  forth  the  talents  of  the  members  during 

10 


no  WIRT'S   LIFE    OF 

that  session,  and  there  was  too  much  unanimity  to  have 
elicited  all  the  strength  of  any  one  of  them." 

My  correspondent  had  an  opportunity  of  seeing  Mr.  Henry 
not  long  afterward,  when  speaking  on  a  subject  of  the  high 
est  moment  to  the  liberties  of  his  country,  and  of  witnessing 
that  almost  supernatural  transformation  of  appearance,  which 
has  been  already  noticed  as  being  invariably  wrought  by  the 
excitement  of  his  genius.  We  shall  have  his  own  account 
of  it  by  and  by ;  and  shall  see  that  he  no  longer  formed  an 
exception  to  the  voice  of  his  country,  in  assigning  the  palm 
of  popular  eloquence  to  this  most  rare  and  extraordinary 
favourite  of  nature. 

It  is  not  improbable,  as  it  has  been  suggested,  that  the 
strongly-marked  distinction  of  ranks  which  prevailed  in  this 
country,  and  the  resentment,  if  not  envy,  with  which  the 
poorer  classes  looked  up  to  the  splendour  and  ostentation  of 
the  landed  aristocracy,  had  a  considerable  agency  in  infla 
ming  Mr.  Henry's  hostility  to  the  British  court.  He  probably 
regarded  the  untitled  nobles  of  Virginia  as  a  sort  of  spurious 
emanation  from  the  royal  stock;  connected  them  in  his 
resentments,  and  transferred  from  the  effect  to  the  cause,  the 
larger  stream  of  his  indignation.  He  had  a  rooted  aversion 
and  even  abhorrence  to  every  thing  in  the  shape  of  pride, 
cruelty,  and  tyranny ;  and  could  not  tolerate  that  social  in 
equality  from  which  they  proceeded,  and  by  which  they  were 
nourished.  The  principle  which  he  seems  to  have  brought 
with  him  into  the  world,  and  which  certainly  formed  the 
guide  of  all  his  public  actions,  was,  that  the  whole  human 
race  was  one  family,  equal  in  their  rights,  and  their  birthright 
liberty. 

The  elements  of  his  character  were  most  happily  mingled 
for  iho  great  struggle  which  was  now  coming  on.  His  views 


PATRICK     HENRY.  Ill 

were  not  less  steady  than  they  were  bold.  His  vision  pierced 
deeply  into  futurity ;  and  long  before  a  whisper  of  independ 
ence  had  been  heard  in  this  land,  he  had  looked  through  the 
whole  of  the  approaching  contest,  and  saw,  with  the  eye  and 
the  rapture  of  a  prophet,  his  country  seated  aloft  among  the 
nations  of  the  earth.  A  striking  proof  of  this  prescience,  is 
given  in  an  anecdote  communicated  to  me  by  Mr.  Pope. 
These  are  his  words : — "  I  am  informed  by  Col.  John  Over- 
ton,  that  before  one  drop  of  blood  was  shed  in  our  contest 
with  Great  Britain,  he  was  at  Col.  Samuel  Overton's,  in  com 
pany  with  Mr.  Henry,  Col.  Morris,  John  Hawkins,  and  Col. 
Samuel  Overton,  when  the  last-mentioned  gentleman  asked 
Mr.  Henry,  '  whether  he  supposed  Great  Britain  would  drive 
her  colonies  to  extremities? — And  if  she  should,  what  he 
thought  would  be  the  issue  of  the  war  ?'  When  Mr.  Henry, 
after  looking  round  to  see  who  were  present,  expressed  him 
self  confidentially  to  the  company  in  the  following  manner : — 
'She  will  drive  us  to  extremities — no  accommodation  will 
take  place — hostilities  will  soon  commence — and  a  desperate 
and  bloody  touch  it  will  be.1  *  But,'  said  Col.  Samuel  Ovei- 
tori,  '  do  you  think,  Mr.  Henry,  that  an  infant  nation  as  we 
are,  without  discipline,  arms,  ammunition,  ships  of  war,  01 
money  to  procure  them — do  you  think  it  possible,  thus  cir 
cumstanced,  to  oppose  successfully  the  fleets  and  armies  of 
Great  Britain  ?'  '  I  will  be  candid  with  you/  replied  Mr. 
Henry.  '  I  doubt  whether  we  shall  be  able,  alone,  to  cope  with 
so  powerful  a  nation.  But,'  continued  he,  (rising  from  his 
chair,  with  great  animation,)  'where  is  France  ?  Wherejs 
Spain  ?  Where  is  Holland  ?nff!rrriatTrral_eneniies  of  Great 
Britain. — Where  wflTtKeybe  aiTthiswhile  ?  Do  you  suppose 
they  will  stand  by,  idle  and  indifferent  spectators  to  the  con 
test  ?  Will  Louis  XVI.  be  asleep  all  this  time  ?  Believe 


112  WIRT'SLIFEOF 

me,  no r  When  Louis  XVI.  shall  be  satisfied  by  our 
serious  opposition,  and  our  Declaration  of  Independence, 
that  all  prospect  of  a  reconciliation  is  gone,  then,  and  not 
till  then,  will  he  furnish  us  with  arms,  ammunition,  and 
clothing;  and  not  with  these  only,  but  he  will  send  his 
fleets  and  armies  to  fight  our  battles  for  us ;  he  will  form 
with  us  a  treaty  offensive  and  defensive,  against  our  un 
natural  mother.  Spain  and  Holland  will  join  the  con 
federation  !  Our  independence  will  be  established !  and 
we  shall  take  our  stand  among  the  nations  of  the  earth!' 
Here  he  ceased  ;  and  Col.  John  Overton  says,  he  shall  never 
forget  the  voice  and  prophetic  manner  with  which  these  pre 
dictions  were  uttered,  and  which  have  been  since  so  literally 
verified.  Col.  Overton  says,  at  the  word  independence,  the 
company  appeared  to  be  startled ;  for  they  had  never  heard 
any  thing  of  the  kind  before  even  suggested." 

It  was  anticipated,  that  the  establishment  of  corresponding 
committees  would  lead  eventually  to  a  congress  of  the  colo 
nies,  and  that  measure  was  brought  about  by  the  following 
circumstances : — 

The  people  of  Boston  having  thrown  into  the  sea  a  vessel 
load  of  tea,  which  was  attempted  to  be  forced  upon  them, 
were  punished  by  an  act  of  parliament,  which  shut  up  their 
port,  from  and  after  the  first  day  of  June,  17^4.  The  house 
of  burgesses  of  Virginia  being  in  session  when  this  act 
arrived,  passed  an  order,  which  stands  upon  their  journal  in 
the  following  terms : — 

"  Tuesday,  the  24th  of  May,  14  Geo.  III.  1774. 

"  This  house,  being  deeply  impressed  with  apprehension  of 
the  great  dangers  to  be  derived  to  British  America,  from  the 


PATRICK     HENRY.  1J3 

hostile  invasion  of  the  city  of  Boston,  in  our  sister-colony  of 
Massachusetts  bay,  whose  commerce  and  harbour  are,  on  the 
first  day  of  June  next,  to  be  stopped  by  an  armed  force,  deem 
it  highly  necessary  that  the  said  first  day  of  June  next  be  set 
apart,  by  the  members  of  this  house,  as  a  day  of  fasting,  hu 
miliation,  and  prayer,  devoutly  to  implore  the  Divine  inter 
position  for  averting  the  heavy  calamity  which  threatens 
destruction  to  our  civil  rights,  and  the  evils  of  civil  war ;  to 
give  us  one  heart  and  one  mind,  firmly  to  oppose,  by  all 
just  and  proper  means,  every  injury  to  American  rights ; 
and  that  the  minds  of  his  majesty  and  his  parliament  may 
be  inspired  from  above  with  wisdom,  moderation,  and  justice, 
to  remove  from  the  loyal  people  of  America  all  cause  of 
danger  from  a  continued  pursuit  of  measures  pregnant  with 
their  ruin. 

"  Ordered,  therefore,  That  the  members  of  this  house  do 
attend  in  their  places,  at  the  hour  of  ten  in  the  forenoon,'  on 
the  said  first  day  of  June  next,  in  order  to  proceed  with  the 
speaker  and  the  mace  to  the  church  in  this  city,  for  the  pur 
poses  aforesaid ;  and  that  the  Reverend  Mr.  Price  be  appoint 
ed  to  read  prayers,  and  to  preach  a  sermon  suitable  to  the 
occasion." 

In  consequence  of  this  order,  Governor  Dumnore,  on  the 
following  day,  dissolved  the  house,  with  this  speech  : — 

"  Mr.  Speaker,  and  gentlemen  of  the  house  of  burgesses : 
I  have  in  my  hand  a  paper  published  by  order  of  your  house, 
conceived  in  such  terms  as  reflect  highly  upon  his  majesty 
and  the  parliament  of  Great  Britain,  which  makes  it  neces 
sary  to  dissolve  you,  arid  you  are  dissolved  accordingly." 

The  members  immediately  withdrew  to  the  Raleigh  tav 
ern,  where  they  formed  themselves  into  a  committee  to  con 
sider  of  the  most  expedient  and  necessary  measure?  to  guard 
P  10* 


114  WIRT'S    LIFE     OF 

against  the  encroachments  which  so  glaringly  threatened 
them ;  and  immediately  adopted  the  following  spirited  asso 
ciation  : — 

"An  association,  signed  by  89  members  of  the  late  house 
of  burgesses.  We,  his  majesty's  most  dutiful  and  loyal  sub 
jects,  the  late  representatives  of  the  good  people  of  this  coun 
try,  having  been  deprived,  by  the  sudden  interposition  of  the 
executive  part  of  this  government,  from  giving  our  country 
men  the  advice  we  wished  to  convey  to  them,  in  a  legislative 
capacity,  find  ourselves  under  the  hard  necessity  of  adopt 
ing  this,  the  only  method  we  have  left,  of  pointing  out  to 
our  countrymen  such  measures  as,  in  our  opinion,  are  best 
fitted  to  secure  our  dear  rights  and  liberty  from  destruction, 
by  the  heavy  hand  of  power  now  lifted  against  North  Amer 
ica.  With  much  grief  we  find,  that  our  dutiful  applications 
to  Great  Britain  for  the  security  of  our  just,  ancient,  and  con 
stitutional  rights,  have  been  not  only  disregarded,  but  that  a 
determined  system  is  formed  and  pressed,  for  reducing  the 
inhabitants  of  British  America  to  slavery,  by  subjecting  them 
to  the  payment  of  taxes  imposed  without  the  consent  of  the 
people  or  their  representatives ;  and  that,  in  pursuit  of  this 
system,  we  find  an  act  of  the  British  parliament,  lately  passed, 
for  stopping  the  harbour  and  commerce  of  the  town  of  Bos 
ton,  in  our  sister-colony  of  Massachusetts  bay,  until  the  peo 
ple  there  submit  to  the  payment  of  such  unconstitutional 
taxes ;  and  which  act  most  violently  and  arbitrarily  deprives 
them  of  their  property,  in  wharves  erected  by  private  persons, 
at  their  own  great  and  proper  expense ;  which  act  is,  in  our 
opinion,  a  most  dangerous  attempt  to  destroy  the  constitu 
tional  liberty  and  rights  of  all  North  America.  It  is  further 
our  opinion,  that  as  tea,  on  its  importation  into  America,  is 
charged  with  a  duty  imposed  by  parliament,  for  the  purpose 


PATRICK    HENRY.  115 

of  raising  a  revenue  without  the  consent  of  the  people,  it 
ought  not  to  be  used  by  any  person  who  wishes  well  to  the 
constitutional  rights  and  liberties  of  British  America.  And 
whereas  the  India  company  have  ungenerously  attempted 
the  ruin  of  America,  by  sending  many  ships  loaded  with  tea 
into  the  colonies,  thereby  intending  to  fix  a  precedent  in  fa 
vour  of  arbitrary  taxation,  we  deem  it  highly  proper  and  do 
accordingly  recommend  it  strongly  to  our  countrymen,  not  to 
purchase  or  use  any  kind  of  East  India  commodity  whatso 
ever,  except  saltpetre  and  spices,  until  the  grievances  of 
America  are  redressed.  We  are  further  clearly  of  opinion, 
that  an  attack  made  on  one  of  our  sister-colonies,  to  compel 
submission  to  arbitrary  taxes,  is  an  attack  made  on  all  Brit 
ish  America,  and  threatens  ruin  to  the  rights  of  all,  unless 
the  united  wisdom  of  the  whole  be  applied.  And  for  this 
purpose  it  is  recommended  to  the  committee  of  correspond 
ence^  that  they  communicate  with  their  several  correspond 
ing  committees,  on  the  expediency  of  appointing  deputies 
from  the  several  colonies  of  British  America,  to  meet  in 
general  congress,  at  such  place,  annually,  as  shall  be 
thought  most  convenient ;  there  to  deliberate  on  those  gtneral 
measures  which  the  united  interests  of  America  may  from 
time  to  time  require. 

"  A  tender  regard  for  the  interest  of  our  fellow-subjects, 
the  merchants  and  manufacturers  of  Great  Britain,  prevents 
us  from  going  further  at  this  time  ;  most  earnestly  hoping, 
that  the  unconstitutional  principle  of  taxing  the  colonies  with 
out  their  consent  will  not  be  persisted  in,  thereby  to  compel 
us,  against  our  will,  to  avoid  all  commercial  intercourse  witli 
Britain.  Wishing  them  and  our  people  free  and  happy,  we  are 
their  affectionate  friends,  the  late  representatives  of  Virginia. 

"  The  27th  day  of  May,  1774." 


116  WIRT'S     LIFE     OF 

To  give  effect  to  the  recommendation  of  a  congress  on  the 
part  of  this  colony,  delegates  were  shortly  after  elected  by 
the  several  counties,  to  meet  in  Williamsburg  on  the  first 
of  August  following,  to  consider  further  of  the  state  of  public 
affairs,  and,  more  particularly,  to  appoint  deputies  to  the  gene 
ral  congress,  which  was  to  be  convened  at  Philadelphia,  on 
the  5th  of  September  following.  The  clear,  firm,  and  ani 
mated  instructions  given  by  the  people  of  the  several  counties 
to  their  delegates,  evince  the  thorough  knowledge  of  the 
great  parliamentary  question  which  now  pervaded  the  coun 
try,  and  the  determined  spirit  of  the  colonists  to  resist  the 
claim  of  British  taxation.* 

*  The  following  are  the  Instructions  from  the  county  of  Hanover : — 
To  John  Syme  and  Patrick  Henry,  Jun.t  Esquires. 

GENTLEMEN, 

You  have  our  thanks  for  your  patriotic,  faithful,  and  spirited  con 
duct,  in  the  part  you  acted  in  the  late  assembly,  as  our  burgesses,  and 
as  we  are  greatly  alarmed  at  the  proceedings  of  the  British  parliament 
respecting  the  town  of  Boston,  and  the  province  of  Massachusetts  bay  ; 
and  as  we  understand  a  meeting  of  delegates  from  all  the  counties  in 
this  colony  is  appointed  to  be  in  Williamsburg  on  the  first  day  of  next 
month,  to  deliberate  on  our  public  affairs,  we  do  hereby  appoint  you, 
gentlemen,  our  delegates ;  and  we  do  request  you,  then  and  there,  to 
meet,  consult,  and  advise,  touching  such  matters  as  are  most  likely 
to  effect  our  deliverance  from  the  evils  with  which  our  country  is 
threatened. 

The  importance  of  those  things  which  will  offer  themselves  for  your 
deliberation  is  exceedingly  great;  and  when  it  is  considered  that  the 
effect  of  the  measures  you  may  adopt  will  reach  our  latest  posterity,  you 
will  excuse  us  for  giving  you  our  sentiments,  and  pointing  out  some 
particulars,  proper  for  that  plan  of  conduct  we  wish  you  to  observe. 

We  are  free  men ;  we  have  a  right  to  be  so ;  and  to  enjoy  all  the  priv 
ileges  and  immunities  of  our  fellow-subjects  in  England;  and  while 


PATRICK     HENRY.  117 

On  the  first  of  August,  accordingly,  the  first  convention  of 
Virginia  delegates  assembled  in  Williamsburg ;  and  gave 
\  new  proof  of  the  invincible  energy  by  which  they  were 

we  retain  a  just  sense  of  that  freedom,  and  those  rights  and  privileges 
necessary  for  its  safety  and  security,  we  shall  never  give  up  the 
right  of  taxation.  Let  it  suffice  to  say,  once  for  all,  we  will  never  be 
taxed  but  by  our  own  representatives :  this  is  the  great  badge  of 
freedom,  and  British  America  hath  hitherto  been  distinguished  by  it ; 
and  when  we  see  the  British  parliament  trampling  upon  that  right,  and 
acting  with  determined  resolution  to  destroy  it,  we  would  wish  to  see 
the  united  wisdom  and  fortitude  of  America  collected  for  its  defence. 

The  sphere  of  life  in  which  we  move  hath  not  afforded  us  lights 
sufficient  to  determine  with  certainty,  concerning  those  things  from 
which  the  troubles  at  Boston  originated.  Whether  the  people  there 
were  warranted  by  justice,  when  they  destroyed  the  tea,  we  know 
not ;  but  this  we  know,  that  the  parliament  by  their  proceedings,  have 
made  us  and  all  North  America  parties  in  the  present  dispute,  and 
deeply  interested  in  the  event  of  it ;  insomuch,  that  if  our  sister-colony 
of  Massachusetts  bay  is  enslaved,  we  cannot  long  remain  free. 

Our  minds  are  filled  with  anxiety  when  we  view  the  friendly  re 
gards  of  our  parent  state  turned  into  enmity ;  and  those  powers  of 
government,  formerly  exerted  for  our  aid  and  protection,  formed  into 
dangerous  efforts  for  our  destruction.  We  read  our  intended  doom  in 
the  Boston  port  bill,  in  that  for  altering  the  mode  of  trial  in  criminal 
cases,  and,  finally,  in  the  bill  for  altering  the  form  of  government  in 
the  Massachusetts  bay.  These  several  acts  are  replete  with  injus 
tice  and  oppression,  and  strongly  expressive  of  the  future  policy  of 
Britain  toward  all  her  colonies  ;  if  a  full  and  uncontrolled  operation 
is  given  to  this  detestable  system  in  its  earlier  stages,  it  will  probably 
be  fixed  upon  us  for  ever. 

Let  it,  therefore,  be  your  great  object  to  obtain  a  speedy  repeal  of 
those  acts  :  and  for  this  purpose  we  recommend  the  adoption  of  such 
measures  as  may  produce  the  hearty  union  of  all  our  countrymen 
and  sister-colonies.  UNITFD  WE  STAND,  DIVIDED  WE  FALL. 

To  attain  this  wished-for  union,  we  declare  our  readiness  to  sacri- 


118  W  IR  T   S     LIFE     OF 

actuated,  in  a  series  of  resolutions,  whereby  they  pledged 
themselves  to  make  common  cause  with  the  people  of  Boston 
in  every  extremity ;  and  broke  off  all  commercial  connexion 
with  the  mother  country,  until  the  grievances  of  which  they 

fice  any  lesser  interest  arising  from  a  soil,  climate,  situation,  or  pro 
ductions  peculiar  to  us. 

We  judge  it  conducive  to  the  interests  of  America,  that  a  general 
congress  of  deputies  from  all  the  colonies  be  held,  in  order  to  form  a 
plan  for  guarding  the  claim  of  the  colonists,  and  their  constitutional 
rights,  from  future  encroachment,  and  for  the  speedy  relief  of  our  suf 
fering  brethren  at  Boston.  For  the  present,  we  think  it  proper  to  form 
a  general  association  against  the  purchase  of  all  articles  of  goods  im 
ported  from  Great  Britain,  except  negroes'  cloths,  salt,  saltpetre, 
powder,  lead,  utensils  and  implements  for  handy-craftsmen  and  manu 
facturers,  which  cannot  be  had  in  America ;  books,  paper,  and  the  like 
necessaries;  and  not  to  purchase  any  goods  or  merchandise  that  shall 
be  imported  from  Great  Britain,  after  a  certain  day  that  may  be 
agreed  on  for  that  purpose  by  the  said  general  meeting  of  deputies  at 
Williamsburg,  except  the  articles  aforesaid,  or  such  as  shall  be  allow 
ed  to  be  imported  by  the  said  meeting ;  and  that  we  will  encourage 
the  manufactures  of  America  by  every  means  in  our  power.  A  regard 
to  justice  hinders  us  at  this  time  from  withholding  our  exports ;  no 
thing  but  the  direct  necessity  shall  induce  us  to  adopt  that  proceed 
ing,  which  we  shall  strive  to  avoid  as  long  as  possible. 

The  African  trade  for  slaves  we  consider  as  most  dangerous  to 
the  virtue  and  welfare  of  this  country  j  we  therefore  most  earnestly 
wish  to  see  it  totally  discouraged. 

A  steady  loyalty  to  the  kings  of  England  has  ever  distinguished 
our  country ;  the  present  state  of  things  here,  as  well  as  the  many 
instances  of  it  to  be  found  in  our  history,  leave  no  room  to  doubt  it. 
God  grant  that  we  may  never  see  the  time  when  that  loyalty  shall  be 
found  incompatible  with  the  rights  of  freemen.  Our  most  ardent  de 
sire  is,  that  we  and  our  latest  posterity  may  continue  to  live  under  the 
genuine,  unaltered  constitution  of  England,  and  be  subjects,  in  the 
irue  spirit  of  that  constitution,  to  his  majesty,  and  his  illustrious 


PATRIC  K  HENR  Y.  119 

complained  should  be  redressed.  By  their  last  resolution  they 
empowered  their  moderator,  Mr.  Peyton  Randolph,  or  in  case 
of  his  death,  Robert  C.  Nicholas,  esquire,  on  any  future  oc 
casion  that  might  in  his  opinion  require  it,  to  convene  the 
several  delegates  of  the  colony,  at  such  time  and  place  as  he 
might  judge  proper. 

They  then  appointed  as  deputies  to  congress  on  the  part 
of  this  colony,  Messrs.  Peyton  Randolph,  Richard  Henry 
Lee,  George  Washington,  Patrick  Henry,  Richard  Bland, 
Benjamin  Harrison,  and  Edmund  Pendleton,  and  furnish 
ed  them  with  the  following  firm  and  spirited  letter  of  in 
structions  : — 

"  Instructions  for  the  Deputies  appointed  to  meet  in  General 
Congress,  on  the  part  of  the  Colony  of  Virginia. 

"  The  unhappy  disputes  between  Great  Britain  and  her 
American  colonies,  which  began  about  the  third  year  of  the 
reign  of  his  present  ^najesty,  and  since  continually  increas 
ing,  have  proceeded  to  lengths  so  dangerous  and  alarming, 
as  to  excite  just  apprehensions  in  the  minds  of  his  majesty's 

house ;  and  may  the  wretches  who  affirm  that  we  desire  the  contrary, 
feel  the  punishment  due  to  falsehood  and  villany. 

While  prudence  and  moderation  shall  guide  your  councils,  we  trust, 
gentlemen,  that  firmness,  resolution,  and  zeal,  will  animate  you  in  the 
glorious  struggle.  The  arm  of  power,  which  is  now  stretched  forth 
against  us,  is  indeed  formidable  j  but  we  do  not  despair.  Our  cause 
is  good ;  and  if  it  is  served  with  constancy  and  fidelity,  it  cannot  fail 
of  success.  We  promise  you  our  best  support,  and  we  will  heartily 
join  in  such  measures  as  a  majority  of  our  countrymen  shall  adopt 
for  securing  the  public  liberty. 

Resolved,  That  the  above  address  be  transmitted  to  the  printers, 

to  be  published  in  the  gazettes. 

WILLIAM  POLLARD,  Clerk. 


120  WIRT'S  LIFE   OF 

faithful  subjects  of  the  colony,  that  they  are  in  danger  of 
being  deprived  of  their  natural,  ancient,  constitutional,  and 
chartered  rights,  have  compelled  them  to  take  the  same  into 
their  most  serious  consideration ;  and  being  deprived  of  their 
usual  and  accustomed  mode  of  making  known  their  griev 
ances,  have  appointed  us  their  representatives,  to  consider 
what  is  proper  to  be  done  in  this  dangerous  crisis  of  Ameri 
can  affairs.  It  being  our  opinion  that  the  united  wisdom  of 
North  America  should  be  collected  in  a  general  congress  of 
all  the  colonies,  we  have  appointed  the  Honourable  Pey 
ton  Randolph,  Richard  Henry  Lee,  George  Washington, 
Patrick  Henry,  Richard  Bland,  Benjamin  Harrison,  and 
Edmund  Pendleton,  esquires,  deputies  to  represent  this 
colony  in  the  said  congress,  to  be  held  at  Philadelphia  on  the 
first  Monday  in  September  next.  And  that  they  may  be 
the  better  informed  of  our  sentiments  touching  the  conduct 
we  wish  them  to  observe  on  this  important  occasion,  we 
desire  that  they  will  express,  in  the  fir^t  place,  our  faith  and 
true  allegiance  to  his  majesty,  King  George  the  Third,  our 
lawful  and  rightful  sovereign  ;  and  that  we  are  determined, 
with  our  lives  and  fortunes,  to  support  him  in  the  legal  exer 
cise  of  all  his  just  rights  and  prerogatives.  And,  however 
misrepresented,  we  sincerely  approve  of  a  constitutional 
connexion  with  Great  Britain,  and  wish  most  ardently  a  return 
of  that  intercourse  of  affection  and  commercial  connexion 
that  formerly  united  both  countries ;  which  can  only  be  ef 
fected  by  a  removal  of  those  causes  of  discontent  which  have 
of  late  unhappily  divided  us. 

"  It  cannot  admit  of  a  doubt,  but  that  British  subjects  in 
America  are  entitled  to  the  same  rights  and  privileges  as  their 
fellow- subjects  possess  in  Britain  ;  and,  therefore,  that  the 
power  assumed  by  the  British  parliament  to  bind  America 


PATRICK    HENRY.  121 

by  their  statutes,  in  all  cases  whatsoever,  is  unconstitutional, 
and  the  source  of  these  unhappy  differences. 

"  The  end  of  government  would  be  defeated,  by  the 
British  parliament  exercising  a  power  over  the  lives,  the 
property,  and  the  liberty  of  American  subjects,  who  are  not, 
and  from  their  local  circumstances  cannot,  be  there  repre 
sented.  Of  this  nature  we  consider  the  several  acts  of  par 
liament  for  raising  a  revenue  in  America,  for  extending  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  courts  of  admiralty,  for  seizing  American 
subjects,  and  transporting  them  to  Britain,  to  be  tried  for 
crimes  committed  in  America,  and  the  several  late  oppressive 
acts  respecting  the  town  of  Boston,  and  province  of  Massa 
chusetts  bay. 

"  The  original  constitution  of  the  American  colonies,  pos 
sessing  their  assemblies  with  the  sole  right  of  directing  their 
internal  polity,  it  is  absolutely  destructive  of  the  end  of  their 
institution,  that  their  legislatures  should  be  suspended,  or 
prevented,  by  hasty  dissolutions,  from  exercising  their  legis 
lative  powers. 

"  Wanting  the  protection  of  Britain,  we  have  long  acqui 
esced  in  their  acts  of  navigation,  restrictive  of  our  commerce, 
which  we  consider  as  an  ample  recompense  for  such  protec 
tion  ;  but  as  those  acts  derive  their  efficacy  from  that  found 
ation  alone,  we  have  reason  to  expect  they  will  be  restrain 
ed,  so  as  to  produce  the  reasonable  purposes  of  Britain,  and 
not  be  injurious  to  us. 

"  To  obtain  redress  of  these  grievances,  without  wnich  the 
people  of  America  can  neither  be  safe,  free,  nor  happy,  they 
are  willing  to  undergo  the  great  inconvenience  that  will  be 
derived  to  them,  from  stopping  all  imports  whatsoever  from 
Great  Britain,  after  the  first  day  of  November  next,  and 
also  to  cease  exporting  any  commodity  whatsoever  to  the 
Q  11 


122  W  HIT'S     LIFE     OF 

same  place,  after  the  10th  day  of  August,  1775.  The  earn 
est  desire  we  have  to  make  as  quick  and  full  payment  as 
possible  of  our  debts  to  Great  Britain,  and  to  avoid  the  heavy 
injury  that  would  arise  to  this  country  from  an  earlier  adop 
tion  of  the  non-exportation  plan,  after  the  people  have  al 
ready  applied  so  much  of  their  labour  to  the  perfecting  of 
the  present  crop,  by  which  means  they  have  been  prevented 
from  pursuing  other  methods  of  clothing  and  supporting 
their  families,  have  rendered  it  necessary  to  restrain  you  in 
this  article  of  non-exportation ;  but  it  is  our  desire  that  you 
cordially  co-operate  with  our  sister-colonies  in  general  con 
gress,  in  such  other  just  and  proper  methods  as  they,  or  the 
majority  shall  deem  necessary  for  the  accomplishment  of 
these  valuable  ends. 

"  The  proclamation  issued  by  General  Gage,  in  the  govern 
ment  of  the  province  of  the  Massachusetts  bay,  declaring  it 
treason  for  the  inhabitants  of  that  province  to  assemble  them 
selves  to  consider  of  their  grievances,  and  form  associations  for 
their  common  conduct  on  the  occasion,  and  requiring  the  civil 
magistrates  and  officers  to  apprehend  all  such  persons  to  be 
tried  for  their  supposed  offences,  is  the  most  alarming  process 
that  ever  appeared  in  a  British  government ;  the  said  General 
Gage  has  thereby  assumed  and  taken  upon  himself  powers 
denied  by  the  constitution  to  our  legal  sovereign ;  he  not  hav 
ing  condescended  to  disclose  by  what  authority  he  exercises 
such  extensive  and  unheard-of  powers,  we  are  at  a  loss  to 
determine  whether  he  intends  to  justify  himself  as  the  repre 
sentative  of  the  king,  or  as  the  commander-in-chief  of  his 
majesty's  forces  in  America.  If  he  considers  himself  as  act 
ing  in  the  character  of  his  majesty's  representative,  we  would 
remind  him  that  the  statute  25th,  Edward  TIL,  has  expressed 
and  defined  all  treasonable  offences,  and  that  the  legislature 


PATRICK    HENRY.  123 

of  Great  Britain  hath  declared  that  no  offence  shall  be  con 
strued  to  be  treason,  but  such  as  is  pointed  out  by  that  statute ; 
and  that  this  was  done  to  take  out  of  the  hands  of  tyran 
nical  kings,  and  of  weak  and  wicked  ministers,  that  deadly 
weapon  which  constructive  treason  hath  furnished  them  with, 
and  which  had  drawn  the  blood  of  the  best  and  honestest 
men  in  the  kingdom ;  and  that  the  king  of  Great  Britain  hath 
no  right  by  his  proclamation  to  subject  his  people  to  impris 
onment,  pains,  and  penalties. 

"  That  if  the  said  General  Gage  conceives  he  is  empower 
ed  to  act  in  this  manner,  as  the  commander-in-chief  of  his 
majesty's  forces  in  America,  this  odious  and  illegal  procla 
mation  must  be  considered  as  a  plain  and  full  declaration 
that  this  despotic  viceroy  will  be  bound  by  no  law,  nor  re 
gard  the  constitutional  rights  of  his  majesty's  subjects,  when 
ever  they  interfere  with  the  plan  he  has  formed  for  oppres 
sing  the  good  people  of  Massachusetts  bay ;  and,  therefore, 
that  the  executing,  or  attempting  to  execute,  such  proclama 
tion,  will  justify  resistance  and  reprisal." 

On  the  fourth  of  September,  1774,  that  venerable  body, 
the  old  continental  congress  of  the  United  States,  (toward 
whom  every  Ameriean  heart  will  bow  with  pious  homage, 
while  the  name  of  liberty  shall  be  dear  in  our  land,)  met  for 
the  first  time  at  Carpenter's  Hall,  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia. 
Peyton  Randolph,  of  Virginia,  was  chosen  president,  and  the 
house  was  organized  for  business  with  all  the  solemnities  of 
a  regular  legislature.* 

The  most  eminent  men  of  the  various  colonies  were  now, 


*  Sallust,  in  his  second  oration  to  C.  Cesar,  De  Republica  Ordi- 
nanda:  gives  a  short  and  animated  picture  of  their  Roman  ancestors, 
which,  with  the  change  of  a  singJe  word,  (libertate  for  i 


124  WIRT'S    LIFE     OF 

for  the  first  time,  brought  together.  They  were  known  to 
each  other  by  fame ;  but  they  were  personally  strangers 
The  meeting  was  awfully  solemn.  The  object  which  had 
called  them  together  was  of  incalculable  magnitude.  The 
liberties  of  no  less  than  three  millions  of  people,  with  that  of 
all  their  posterity,  were  staked  on  the  wisdom  and  energy  of 
their  councils.  No  wonder,  then,  at  the  long  and  deep 
silence  which  is  said  to  have  followed  upon  their  organiza 
tion  ;  at  the  anxiety  with  which  the  members  looked  around 
upon  each  other ;  and  the  reluctance  which  every  individual 
felt  to  open  a  business  so  fearfully  momentous.  In  the  midst 
of  this  deep  and  deathlike  silence,  and  just  when  it  was 
beginning  to  become  painfully  embarrassing,  Mr.  Henry  arose 
slowly,  as  if  borne  down  with  the  weight  of  the  subject.  Af 
ter  faltering,  according  to  his  habit,  through  a  most  impres 
sive  exordium,  in  which  he  merely  echoed  back  the  con 
sciousness  of  every  other  heart,  in  deploring  his  inability  to 
do  justice  to  the  occasion,  he  launched  gradually  into  a  re 
cital  of  the  colonial  wrongs.  Rising,  as  he  advanced,  with 
the  grandeur  of  his  subject,  and  glowing  at  length  with  all 
the  majesty  and  expectation  of  the  occasion,  his  speech  seem 
ed  more  than  that  of  mortal  man.  Even  those  who  had 
heard  him  in  all  his  glory,  in  the  house  of  burgesses  of  Vir- 

describes  so  happily  our  old  continental  congress,  that  I  am  sure  I 
shall  gratify  the  classic  reader  by  its  insertion. 

"Itaque,  majores  nostri,  cum  bellis  asperimis  premerentur,  equis, 
viris,  pecunia  amissa,  nunquam  defessi  sunt  armati  de  libertate  con- 
tendere.  Non  inopia  ararii,  non  vis  hostium,  non  adversa  res,  in- 
gentem  eorum  animum  subegit :  quern,  qua  virtute  ceperant,  simul 
cum  aniana  retinerent.  Atque  ea,  magis  fortibus  consiliis,  quam 
bonis  prseliis,  patrata  sunt.  Quippe  apud  illos,  una  respublica  erat  • 
ei  consulebant;  factio,  contra  hostes  parabatitr ;  corpus  atque 
,  patrice,  non  su<z:  quisque  potent  la'  exvrcitabat" 


PATRICK    HENRY.  125 

ginia,  were  astonished  at  the  manner  in  which  his  talents 
seemed  to  swell  and  expand  themselves,  to  fill  the  vaster 
theatre  in  which  he  was  now  placed.  There  was  no  rant — 
no  rhapsody — no  labour  of  the  understanding — no  straining 
of  the  voice — no  confusion  of  the  utterance.  His  counte 
nance  was  erect — his  eye,  steady — his  action,  noble — his 
enunciation,  clear  and  firm — his  mind  poised  on  its  centre — 
his  views  of  his  subject  comprehensive  and  great — and  his 
imagination  coruscating  with  a  magnificence  and  a  variety, 
which  struck  even  that  assembly  with  amazement  and  awe. 
He  sat  down  amidst  murmurs  of  astonishment  and  applause  ; 
and  as  he  had  been  before  proclaimed  the  greatest  orator  of 
Virginia,  he  was  now,  on  every  hand,  admitted  to  be  the  first 
orator  of  America. 

He  was  followed  by  Mr.  Richard  Henry  Lee,  who  charm 
ed  the  house  with  a  different  kind  of  eloquence — chaste — 
classical — beautiful — his  polished  periods  rolling  along  with 
out  effort,  filling  the  ear  with  the  most  bewitching  harmony, 
and  delighting  the  mind  with  the  most  exquisite  imagery. 
The  cultivated  graces  of  Mr.  Lee's  rhetoric  received  and  at 
the  same  time  reflected  beauty,  by  their  contrast  with  the 
wild  and  grand  effusions  of  Mr.  Henry.  Just  as  those  noble 
monuments  of  art  which  lie  scattered  through  the  celebrated 
landscape  of  Naples,  at  once  adorn,  and  are  in  their  turn 
adorned  by  the  surrounding  majesty  of  Nature. 

Two  models  of  eloquence,  each  so  perfect  in  its  kind,  and 
so  finely  contrasted,  could  not  but  fill  the  house  with  the 
highest  admiration ;  and  as  Mr.  Henry  had  before  been  pro 
nounced  the  Demosthenes,  it  was  conceded  on  every  hand, 
that  Mr.  Lee  was  the  Cicero,  of  America. 

11* 


SECTION   IV. 

IT  is  due,  however,  to  historic  truth  to  record,  that  the 
superior  powers  of  these  great  men  were  manifested  only  in 
debate.  On  the  floor  of  the  house,  and  during  the  first  days 
of  the  session,  while  general  grievances  were  the  topic,  they 
took  the  undisputed  lead  in  the  assembly,  and  were  confes 
sedly,  primi  inter  pares.  But  when  called  down  from  the 
heights  of  declamation,  to  that  severer  test  of  intellectual  ex 
cellence,  the  details  of  business,  they  found  themselves  in  a 
body  of  cool-headed,  reflecting,  and  most  able  men,  by  whom 
they  were,  in  their  turn,  completely  thrown  into  the  shade. 

A  petition  to  the  king,  an  address  to  the  people  of  Great 
Britain,  and  a  memorial  to  the  people  of  British  America, 
were  agreed  to  be  drawn.  Mr.  Lee,  Mr.  Henry,  and  others, 
were  appointed  for  the  first;  Mr.  Lee,  Mr.  Livingston,  and 
Mr.  Jay,  for  the  two  last.  The  splendour  of  their  debut 
occasioned  Mr.  Henry  to  be  designated  by  his  committee,  to 
draw  the  petition  to  the  king,  with  which  they  were  charged  ; 
and  Mr.  Lee  was  charged  with  the  address  to  the  people 
of  England.  The  last  was  first  reported.  On  reading  it, 
great  disappointment  was  expressed  in  every  countenance, 
and  a  dead  silence  ensued  for  some  minutes.  At  length,  it 
was  laid  on  the  table,  for  perusal  and  consideration,  till  the 
next  day :  when  first  one  member  and  then  another  arose, 

126 


PATRICK    HENRY.  127 

and  paying  some  faint  compliment  to  the  composition,  ob 
served  that  there  were  still  certain  considerations  not  express 
ed,  which  should  properly  find  a  place  in  it.  The  address 
was,  therefore,  committed  for  amendment;  and  one  pre 
pared  by  Mr.  Jay,  and  offered  by  Governor  Livingston,  was 
reported  and  adopted,  with  scarcely  an  alteration.  These 
facts  are  stated  by  a  gentleman  to  whom  they  were  commu 
nicated  by  Mr.  Pendleton  and  Mr.  Harrison,  of  the  Virginia 
delegation,  (except  that  Mr.  Harrison  erroneously  ascribed 
the  draught  to  Governor  Livingston,)  and  to  whom  they  were 
afterward  confirmed  by  Governor  Livingston  himself.  Mr. 
Henry's  draught  of  a  petition  to  the  king  was  equally  unsuc 
cessful,  and  was  recommitted  for  amendment.  Mr.  John 
Dickinson  (the  author  of  the  Farmer's  Letters)  was  added 
to  the  committee,  and  a  new  draught,  prepared  by  him,  was 
adopted.* 

This  is  one  of  the  incidents  in  the  life  of  Mr.  Henry  to 
which  an  allusion  was  made  in  a  former  page,  when  it  was 
observed,  that  notwithstanding  the  wonderful  gifts  which  he 
had  derived  from  nature,  he  lived  himself  to  deplore  his  early 
neglect  of  literature.  But  for  this  neglect,  that  imperishable 
trophy  won  by  the  pen  of  Mr.  John  Dickinson  would  have 
been  his ;  and  the  fame  of  his  genius,  instead  of  resting  on 
tradition,  or  the  short-lived  report  of  his  present  biographer, 

*  The  late  Governor  Tyler,  a  warm  friend  of  Mr.  Henry,  used  to 
relate  an  anecdote  in  strict  accordance  with  this  statement :  it  was, 
that  after  these  two  gentlemen  had  made  their  first  speeches,  Mr. 
Chase,  a  delegate  from  Maryland,  walked  across  the  house  to  the  seat 
of  his  colleague,  and  said  to  him,  in  an  under  voice :  "  We  might  as 
well  go  home ;  we  are  not  able  to  legislate  with  these  men,"  But  that 
after  the  house  came  to  descend  to  details,  the  same  Mr.  Chase  was 
heard  to  remark:  "  Well,  after  all,  I  find  these  are  but  men — and  in 
mere  matters  of  business,  but  very  common  men." 


128  WIRT'S    LIFE    OF 

would  have  flourished  on  the  immortal  page  of  the  American 
history. 

It  is  a  trite  remark,  that  the  talents  for  speaking  and  for 
writing  eminently  are  very  rarely  found  united  in  the  same 
individual ;  and  the  rarity  of  the  occurrence  has  led  to  an 
opinion,  that  those  talents  depend  on  constitutions  of  mind 
so  widely  different,  as  to  render  their  union  almost  wholly 
unattainable.  This  was  not  the  opinion,  however,  it  is  be 
lieved,  at  Athens  and  at  Rome  :  it  cannot,  I  apprehend,  be 
the  opinion  either  in  the  united  kingdom  of  Great  Britain. 
There  have  been,  indeed,  in  these  countries  distinguished 
orators,  who  have  not  left  behind  them  any  proofs  of  their 
eminence  in  composition  ;  but  neither  have  they  lefl  behind 
them  any  proofs  of  their  failure  in  this  respect :  so  that  the 
conclusion  of  their  incompetency  is  rather  assumed  than  es 
tablished.  On  the  other  hand,  there  have  been,  in  all  those 
countries,  too  many  illustrious  examples  of  the  union  of  those 
talents,  to  justify  the  belief  of  their  incongruity  by  any  gene 
ral  law  of  nature 

That  there  have  been  many  eminent  writers  who,  from 
physical  defects,  could  never  have  become  orators,  is  very 
certain :  but  is  the  converse  of  the  proposition  equally  true  ? 
Was  there  ever  an  eminent  orator  who  might  not,  by  proper 
discipline,  have  become,  also,  a  very  eminent  writer  ?  What 
are  the  essential  qualities  of  the  orator  ?  Are  they  not  judg 
ment,  invention,  imagination,  sensibility,  taste,  and  expres 
sion,  or  the  command  of  strong  and  appropriate  language  ? 
If  these  be  the  qualities  of  the  orator,  it  is  very  easy  to  un 
derstand  how  they  may  be  improved  by  the  discipline  of  the 
closet  ;*  but  not  so  easy  to  comprehend  how  they  can  pos- 

*  Nulla  enim  res  tantum  ad  dicendum  proficit,  quantum  scriptio. — 
Cic.  BRUT.  xxiv.  92. 


I/ 


P  A  T  R  I  C  K     H  E  N  R  Y .  129 

sibly  be  injured  by  it.  Is  there  any  danger  that  this  discipline 
will  tame  too  much  the  fiery  spirit,  the  enchanting  wildness, 
and  magnificent  irregularity  of  the  orator's  genius  ?  The 
example  of  Demosthenes  alone  is  a  sufficient  answer  to  this 
question ;  and  the  reader  will,  at  once,  recall  numerous  other 
examples,  corroborative  of  the  same  truth,  both  in  ancient 
and  modern  times.  The  truth  seems  to  be,  that  this  rare 
union  of  talents  results,  not  from  any  incongruity  in  their 
nature,  but  from  defective  education,  taking  this  word  in  its 
larger,  Roman  sense.  If  the  genius  of  the  orator  has  been 
properly  trained  in  his  youth  to  both  pursuits,  instead  of  be 
ing  injured,  it  will,  I  apprehend,  be  found  to  derive  additional 
grace,  beauty,  and  even  sublimity,  from  the  discipline.  His 
flights  will  be  at  least  as  bold — they  will  he  better  sustained 
— and  whether  he  chooses  to  descend  in  majestic  circles,  or 
to  stoop  on  headlong  wing,  his  performance  will  not  be  the 
worse  for  having  been  taught  to  fly. 

For  Mr.  Henry  and  for  the  world,  it  happened  unfortu 
nately,  that  instead  of  the  advantage  of  this  Roman  educa 
tion,  of  which  we  have  spoken,  the  years  of  his  youth  had 
been  wasted  in  idleness.  He  had  become  celebrated  as  an 
orator  before  he  had  learned  to  compose  ;  and  it  is  not  there 
fore  wonderful,  that  when  withdrawn  from  the  kindling  pres 
ence  of  the  crowd,  he  was  called  upon  for  the  first  time  to 
take  the  pen,  all  the  spirit  and  flame  of  his  genius  were  ex 
tinguished.* 

*  On  this  subject,  of  the  rare  union  of  the  talents  of  speaking  an:] 
writing  in  the  same  man,  Cicero  has  a  parallel  between  Galba  and 
Lselius,  which  is  not  less  just  than  it  is  beautiful.  After  having  spoken 
of  Galba  as  one  of  those  men  of  great  but  less  cultivated  natural  pow 
ers,  who  were  afraid  of  lowering  the  fame  of  their  eloquence  by  sub 
mitting  their  writings  to  the  world,  he  proceeds  thus: — "  Qucm  (Gal- 

R 


130  WIRT'S    LIFE    OF 

But  while,  with  reference  to  his  own  fame  and  the  lasting 
benefits  which  he   might  have   conferred  on  the  world,  we 

bam}  fort  ass  e  vis  non  ingenii  solum,  sed  etiam  animi,  et  naturalis 
quidam  dolor  dicentem  incendebat,  effeciebatque,  ut  et  incitatay  et 
gravis,  et  vehemens  esset  oratio:  dein,  cum  otiosus  stilum  prehen- 
derat,  motusque  omnis  animi,  tanquam  ventus,  hominem  defecerat, 
flacessebat  oratio  :  quod  Us,  qui  limatius  dicendi  consectantur  ge 
nus,  accidere  non  solet,  propterca  quod  prudentia  nunquam  dejicit 
orator  em,  qua  ille  utens,  eodem  modo  possit  et  dicer  e  et  scribere; 
ardor  animi  non  semper  adest,  isque  cum  consedit,  omnis  ilia  vis  et 
quasi  famma  oratoris  extinguitur.  Hanc  igitur  ob  causam,  videtur 
LalU  mens  spirare  etiam  in  scriptis,  Galbce  autem,  vis  occidisse." 
BRUTUS,  xxiv.  93.  There  seems  to  have  been  a  strong  resemblance 
between  the  structure  of  Galba's  eloquence  and  character,  and  those 
of  Mr.  Henry.  In  their  habits,  however,  there  was  this  striking  dif 
ference,  that  Galba's  preparation  for  speaking  was  always  most  elabo 
rate  ;  Mr.  Henry's,  generally,  none  at  all.  On  this  head,  of  Galba's 
anxious  preparation,  Cicero  gives  us  a  very  interesting  anecdote  : 
Laelius,  it  seems,  was  engaged  in  a  great  cause,  in  which  he  spoke 
with  the  peculiar  elegance  which  always  distinguished  him ;  but  not 
having  succeeded  in  convincing  his  judges,  the  case  was  adjourned  to 
another  day,  and  a  new  argument  was  called  for.  Laelius  again  ap 
peared  and  surpassed  his  former  exertions,  but  with  the  same  result,  of 
another  adjournment  and  a  call  for  re-argument.  His  clients  attended 
him  to  his  house  on  the  rising  of  the  court,  expressed  their  gratitude 
in  the  strongest  terms,  and  begged  that  he  would  not  permit  himself 
to  be  wearied  into  a  desertion  of  them.  To  this  Lselius  answered,  that 
what  he  had  done  for  the  support  of  the  cause,  had,  indeed,  been  dili 
gently  and  accurately  performed ;  but  he  was  satisfied  that  that  cause 
could  be  better  defended  by  the  more  bold  and  vehement  eloquence  of 
Galba.  Galba  was  accordingly  applied  to  ;  but  was,  at  first,  startled 
at  the  idea  of  succeeding  such  an  orator  as  Laelius  in  any  cause ;  more 
especially,  on  the  short  time  for  preparation  that  was  then  allowed  him. 
He  yielded,  however,  to  their  importunities ;  and  employed  the  whole 
of  the  intermediate  day  and  the  morning  of  that  in  which  the  court 
was  to  sit,  in  studying  and  annotating,  with  the  help  of  his  amanu- 


PATRICK    HENRY.  131 

lament  his  want  of  literary  discipline,  it  is  not  impossible  that, 
for  the  times  in  which  he  lived,  and  for  the  more  immediate 
purpose  of  the  American  revolution,  the  popular  opinion  may 
be  correct.  The  people  seem  to  have  admired  him  the  more 
for  his  want  of  discipline.  "His  genius,"  they  say,  "was 
unbroken,  and  too  full  of  fire  to  bear  the  curb  of  composition. 
He  delighted  to  swim  the  flood,  to  breast  the  torrent,  and  to 
scale  the  mountain  :  and  supported  as  he  was,  in  all  public 
bodies,  by  masters  of  the  pen,  they  insist,  that  it  was  even 
fortunate  for  the  revolution,  that  his  genius  was  left  at  large, 
to  revel  in  all  the  wildness  and  boldness  of  nature ;  that  it 
enabled  him  to  infuse,  more  successfully,  his  own  intrepid 
spirit  into  the  measures  of  the  revolution ;  that  it  rendered 
his  courage  more  contagious,  and  enabled  him  to  achieve, 
by  a  kind  of  happy  rashness,  what  perhaps  had  been  lost  by 
a  better  regulated  mind." 

But  to  resume  our  narrative :  congress  arose  in  October, 
and  Mr.  Henry  returned  to  his  native  county.  Here,  as  was 
natural,  he  was  surrounded  by  his  neighbours,  who  were 

ensis.  When  the  hour  of  court  arrived,  his  clients  called  for  him,  and 
Galba  came  out,  "  with  that  complexion  and  those  eyes,"  says  Cicero, 
"  which  would  have  led  you  to  suppose  that  he  had  been  engaged  in 
pleading  a  cause,  and  not  in  studying  it."  Whence  it  appears  that 
Galba  was  not  less  vehement  and  inflamed  in  meditating,  than  in  the 
act  of  delivering  a  speech.  His  success  was  proportioned  to  his  pre 
paration.  "  In  the  midst  of  the  greatest  expectation,  surrounded  by  a 
vast  concourse  of  hearers,  before  Laelius  himself,  he  plead  the  cause 
with  so  much  force  and  so  much  power,  that  no  part  of  his  speech 
passed  without  applause,  and  his  clients  were  discharged,  with  the  ap 
probation  of  eveiy  one."  What  an  impression  does  this  give  us  of  the 
magnanimity  of  Laelius,  as  well  as  the  abilities  of  Galba !  Mr.  Henry 
would  not  have  taken  the  trouble  of  Galba's  preparation  ;  but  he  would 
have  gained  the  cause,  if  human  abilities  could  have  gained  it. 


WIRT'S   LIFE    OF 


^ £«Cger  to  hear  not  only  what  had  been  done,  but  what  kind 

of  men  had  composed  that  illustrious  body.  He  answered 
their  inquiries  with  all  his  wonted  kindness  and  candour ; 
and  having  been  asked  by  one  of  them,  "  whom  he  thought 
the  greatest  man  in  congress,"  he  replied :  "  If  you  speak  of 
eloquence,  Mr.  Rutledge,  of  South  Carolina,  is  by  far  the 
!  greatest  orator ;  but  if  you  speak  of  solid  information  and 
sound  judgment,  Colonel  Washington  is,  unquestionably,  the 
greatest  man  on  that  floor."  Such  was  the  penetration  which, 
at  that  early  period  of  Mr.  Washington's  life,  could  pierce 
through  his  retiring  modesty  and  habitual  reserve,  and  esti 
mate  so  correctly  the  unrivalled  worth  of  his  character. 

On  Monday,  the  20th  of  March,  1775,  the  convention  of 
delegates,  from  the  several  counties  and  corporations  of  Vir 
ginia,  met  for  the  second  time.  This  assembly  was  held  in 
the  old  church  in  the  town  of  Richmond.  Mr.  Henry  was 
a  member  of  that  body  also.  The  reader  will  bear  in  mind, 
the  tone  of  the  instructions  given  by  the  convention  of  the 
preceding  year  to  their  deputies  in  congress.  He  will  remem 
ber  that,  while  they  recite  with  great  feeling  the  series  of 
grievances  under  which  the  colonies  had  laboured,  and  insist 
with  firmness  on  their  constitutional  rights,  they  give,  never 
theless,  the  most  explicit  and  solemn  pledge  of  their  faith  and 
true  allegiance  to  his  majesty  King  George  III.,  and  avow 
their  determination  to  support  him  with  their  lives  and  for 
tunes,  in  the  legal  exercise  of  all  his  just  rights  and  preroga 
tives.  He  will  remember,  that  these  instructions  contain  also, 
an  expression  of  their  sincere  approbation  of  a  connexion 
with  Great  Britain,  and  their  ardent  wishes  for  a  return  of 
that  friendly  intercourse  from  which  this  country  had  derived 
so  much  prosperity  and  happiness.  These  sentiments  still 
influenced  many  oi  the  leading  members  of  the  convention 


P  A  TRICK     HE  NR  Y.  133 

of  1775.  They  could  not  part  with  the  fond  hope  that  those 
peaceful  days  would  again  return  which  had  shed  so  much 
light  and  warmth  over  the  land ;  and  the  report  of  the 
king's  gracious  reception  of  the  petition,  from  congress  tend 
ed  to  cherish  and  foster  that  hope,  and  to  render  them  averse 
to  any  means  of  violence.  But  Mr.  Henry  saw  things  with 
a  steadier  eye  and  a  deeper  insight.  His  judgment  was  too 
solid  to  be  duped  by  appearances ;  and  his  heart  too  firm 
and  manly  to  be  amused  by  false  and  nattering  hopes.  He 
had  long  since  read  the  true  character  of  the  British  court, 
and  saw  that  no  alternative  remained  for  his  country  but 
abject  submission  or  heroic  resistance.  It  was  not  for  a  soul 
like  Henry's  to  hesitate  between  these  courses.  He  had 
offered  upon  the  altar  of  liberty  no  divided  heart.  The  gulf 
of  war  which  yawned  before  him  was  indeed  fiery  and  fear 
ful  ;  but  he  saw  that  the  awful  plunge  was  inevitable.  The 
body  of  the  convention,  however,  hesitated.  They  cast  around 
"  a  longing,  lingering  look"  on  those  flowery  fields  on  which 
peace,  and  ease,  and  joy,  were  still  sporting ;  and  it  required 
all  the  energies  of  a  Mentor  like  Henry  to  push  them  from 
the  precipice,  and  conduct  them  over  the  stormy  sea  of  the 
revolution,  to  liberty  and  glory. 

The  convention  being  formed  and  organized  for  business, 
proceeded,  in  the  first  place,  to  express  their  unqualified  ap 
probation  of  the  measures  of  congress,  and  to  declare  that 
they  considered  "  this  whole  continent  as  under  the  highest 
obligations  to  that  respectable  body,  for  the  wisdom  of  their 
counsels,  and  their  unremitted  endeavours  to  maintain  and 
preserve  inviolate  the  just  rights  and  liberties  of  his  majesty's 
dutiful  and  loyal  subjects  in  America." 

They  next  resolve,  that  "  the  warmest  thanks  of  the  con 
vention,  and  of  all  the  inhabitants  of  this  colony,  were  due, 

12 


134  WIRT'SLIFEOF 

and  that  this  just  tribute  of  applause  be  presented  to  the 
worthy  delegates,  deputed  by  a  former  convention  to  repre 
sent  this  colony  in  general  congress,  for  their  cheerful  under 
taking  and  faithful  discharge  of  the  very  important  trust 
reposed  in  them." 

The  morning  of  the  23d  of  March  was  opened,  by  read 
ing  a  petition  and  memorial  from  the  assembly  of  Jamaica, 
to  the  king's  most  excellent  majesty  :  whereupon  it  was — 
"  Resolved,  That  the  unfeigned  thanks  and  most  grateful 
acknowledgments  of  the  convention  be  presented  to  that  very 
respectable  assembly,  for  the  exceeding  generous  and  affec 
tionate  part  they  have  so  nobly  taken,  in  the  unhappy  contest 
between  Great  Britain  and  her  colonies ;  and  for  their  truly 
patriotic  endeavours  to  fix  the  just  claims  of  the  colonists 
upon  the  most  permanent  constitutional  principles  : — that  the 
assembly  be  assured,  that  it  is  the  most  ardent  wish  of  this 
colony,  [and  they  were  persuaded  of  the  whole  continent 
of  North  America,]  to  see  a  speedy  return  of  those  halcyon 
days,  when  we  lived  a  free  and  happy  people." 

These  proceedings  were  not  adapted  to  the  taste  of  Mr. 
Henry ;  on  the  contrary,  they  were  "  gall  and  wormwood" 
to  him.  The  house  required  to  be  wrought  up  to  a  bolder 
tone.  He  rose,  therefore,  and  moved  the  following  manly 
resolutions  : — 

"Resolved,  That  a  well-regulated  militia,  composed  of 
gentlemen  and  yeomen,  is  the  natural  strength  and  only  se 
curity  of  a  free  government ;  that  such  a  militia  in  this  colony 
would  for  ever  render  it  unnecessary  for  the  mother-country 
to  keep  among  us,  for  the  purpose  of  our  defence,  any  stand 
ing  army  of  mercenary  soldiers,  always  subversive  of  the 
quiet,  and  dangerous  to  the  liberties  of  the  people,  and  would 
obviate  the  pretext  of  taxing  us  for  their  support. 


PATRICK    HENRY.  135 

"  That  the  establishment  of  such  militia  is,  at  this  time, 
peculiarly  necessary,  by  the  state  of  our  laws,  for  the  protec 
tion  and  defence  of  the  country,  some  of  which  are  already 
expired,  and  others  will  shortly  be  so  :  and  that  the  known 
remissness  of  government  in  calling  us  together  in  legislative 
capacity,  renders  it  too  insecure,  in  this  time  of  danger  and 
distress,  to  rely  that  opportunity  will  be  given  of  renewing 
them,  in  general  assembly,  or  making  any  provision  to  secure 
our  inestimable  rights  and  liberties,  from  those  further  vio 
lations  ivith  which  they  are  threatened. 

"  Resolved,  therefore,  That  this  colony  be  immediately 
put  into  a  state  of  defence,  and  that 

be  a  committee  to  prepare  a  plan  for  imbodying,  arming, 
and  disciplining  such  a  number  of  men,  as  may  be  sufficient 
for  that  purpose." 

The  alarm  which  such  a  proposition  must  have  given  to 
those  who  had  contemplated  no  resistance  of  a  character 
more  serious  than  petition,  non-importation,  and  passive  for 
titude,  and  who  still  hung  with  suppliant  tenderness  on  the 
skirts  of  Britain,  will  be  readily  conceived  by  the  reflecting 
reader.  The  shock  was  painful.  It  was  almost  general. 
The  resolutions  were  opposed  as  not  only  rash  in  policy,  but 
as  harsh  and  well  nigh  impious  in  point  of  feeling.  Some 
of  the  warmest  patriots  of  the  convention  opposed  them. 
Richard  Bland,  Benjamin  Harrison,  and  Edmund  Pendleton, 
who  had  so  lately  drunk  of  the  fountain  of  patriotism  in  the 
continental  congress,  and  Robert  C.  Nicholas,  one  of  the 
best  as  well  as  ablest  men  and  patriots  in  the  state,  resisted 
them  with  all  their  influence  and  abilities. 

They  urged  the  late  gracious  reception  of  the  congression 
al  petition  by  the  throne.  They  insisted  that  national 
comity,  and  much  more  filial  respect,  demanded  the  exercise 


136  WIRT'SLIFEOF 

of  a  more  dignified  patience.  That  the  sympathies  of  the 
parent-country  were  now  on  our  side.  That  the  friends  of 
American  liberty  in  parliament  were  still  with  us,  and  had, 
as  yet,  had  no  cause  to  blush  for  our  indiscretion.  That  the 
manufacturing  interests  of  Great  Britain,  already  smarting 
under  the  effects  of  our  non-importation,  co-operated  power 
fully  toward  our  relief.  That  the  sovereign  himself  had 
relented,  and  showed  that  he  looked  upon  our  sufferings  with 
an  eye  of  pity.  "Was  this  a  moment,"  they  asked,  "  to  dis 
gust  our  friends,  to  extinguish  all  the  conspiring  sympathies 
which  were  working  in  our  favour,  to  turn  their  friendship 
into  hatred,  their  pity  into  revenge  ?  And  what  was  there, 
they  asked,  in  the  situation  of  the  colony,  to  tempt  us  to 
this  ?  Were  we  a  great  military  people  ?  Were  we  ready 
for  war  ?  Where  were  our  stores — where  were  our  arms — 
where  our  soldiers — where  our  generals — where  our  money, 
the  sinews  of  war  ?  They  were  nowhere  to  be  found.  In 
truth,  we  were  poor — we  were  naked — we  were  defenceless. 
And  yet  we  talk  of  assuming  the  front  of  war !  of  assuming 
it,  too,  against  a  nation,  one  of  the  most  formidable  in  the 
world  !  A  nation  ready  and  armed  at  all  points  !  Her  navies 
riding  triumphant  in  every  sea ;  her  armies  never  marching 
but  to  certain  victory !  What  was  to  be  the  issue  of  the 
struggle  we  were  called  upon  to  court  ?  What  could  be  the 
issue,  in  the  comparative  circumstances  of  the  two  countries, 
but  to  yield  up  this  country  an  easy  prey  to  Great  Britain, 
and  to  convert  the  illegitimate  right  which  the  British  par 
liament  now  claimed,  into  a  firm  and  indubitable  right,  by 
conquest  ?  The  measure  might  be  brave ;  but  it  was  the 
bravery  of  madmen.  It  had  no  pretension  to  the  char 
acter  of  prudence ;  and  as  little  to  the  grace  of  genuine 
courage.  It  would  be  time  enough  to  resort  to  measures 


PATRICK    HENRY.  137 

c  f  despair,  when  every  well  founded  hope  had  entirely 
vanished." 

To  this  strong  view  of  the  sub  feet,  supported  as  it  was  by 
the  stubborn  fact  of  the  well-known  helpless  condition  of 
the  colony,  the  opponents  of  those  resolutions  superadded 
every  topic  of  persuasion  which  belonged  to  the  cause. 

"  The  strength  and  lustre  which  we  have  derived  from  our 
connexion  with  Great  Britain — the  domestic  comforts  which 
we  had  drawn  from  the  same  source,  and  whose  value  we 
were  now  able  to  estimate  by  their  loss — that  ray  of  recon 
ciliation  which  was  dawning  upon  us  from  the  east,  and 
which  promised  so  fair  and  happy  a  day : — with  this  they 
contrasted  the  clouds  and  storms  which  the-  measure  now 
proposed  was  so  well  calculated  to  raise — and  in  which  we 
should  not  have  even  the  poor  consolation  of  being  pitied  by 
the  world,  since  we  should  have  so  needlessly  and  rashly 
drawn  them  upon  ourselves." 

These  arguments  and  topics  of  persuasion  were  so  well 
justified  by  the  appearance  of  things,  and  were  moreover  so 
entirely  in  unison  with  that  love  of  ease  and  quiet  which  is 
natural  to  man,  and  that  disposition  to  hope  for  happier  times, 
even  under  the  most  forbidding  circumstances,  that  an  ordi 
nary  man,  in  Mr.  Henry's  situation,  would  have  been  glad  to 
compound  with  the  displeasure  of  the  house,  by  being  per 
mitted  to  withdraw  his  resolutions  in  silence 

Not  so  Mr.  Henry.  His  was  a  spirit  fitted  to  raise  the 
whirlwind,  as  well  as  to  ride  in  and  direct  it.  His  was  that 
comprehensive  view,  that  unerring  prescience,  that  perfect 
command  over  the  actions  of  men,  which  qualified  him  not 
merely  to  guide,  but  almost  to  create  the  destinies  of  nations. 

He  rose  at  this  time  with  a  majesty  unusual  to  him  in  an 
exordium,  and  with  all  that  self-possession  by  which  he  was 
S  12* 


138  WIRT?S     LIFE     OF 

so  invariably  distinguished.  "  No  man,"  he  said,  "  thought 
more  highly  than  he  did  of  the  patriotism,  as  well  as  abili 
ties,  of  the  very  worthy  gentlemen  who  had  just  addressed 
the  house.  But  different  men  often  saw_the  same  suoject  in 
different  lights ;  and,  therefore,  "Jie  hoped  it  would  not  be 
thought  disrespectful  to  those  gentlemen,  if,  entertaining  as 
J-he^jjd.  opinions  of  a  character  very  opposite  .to  theirs,  h<r 
should  speak  forth  /as  sentiments  freely,  and  without  reserve. 
This,"  he  said,  "was  no  time  for  ceremony.  The  question 
before  this  house  was  one  of  awful  moment  to  the  country. 
For  his  own  part,  he  considered  it  as  nothing  less  than  a 
question  of  freedom  or  slavery.  And  in  proportion  to  the 
magnitude  of  the  subject,  ought  to  be  the  freedom  of  the 
debate.  It  was  only  in  this  way  that  they  could  hope  to  ar 
rive  at  truth,  and  fulfil  the  great  responsibility  which  they 
held  to  God  and  their  country.  Should  he  keep  back  his 
opinions  at  such  a  time,  through  fear  of  giving  offence,  he 
should  consider  himself  as  guilty  of  treason  toward  his  coun 
try,  and  of  an  act  of  disloyalty  toward  the  majesty  of  heaven, 
which  he  revered  above  all  earthly  kings." 

"  Mr.  President,"  said  he,  "  it  is  natural  to  man  to  indulge 
in  the  illusions  of  hope.  We  are  apt  to  shut  our  eyes  against 
a  painful  truth — and  listen  to  the  song  of  that  siren,  till  she 
transforms  us  into  beasts.  Is  this,"  he  asked,  "  the  part  of 
wise  men,  engaged  in  a  great  and  arduous  struggle  for  liberty? 
Were  we  disposed  to  be  of  the  number  of  those,  who  having 
eyes,  see  not,  and  having  ears,  hear  not,  the  things  which  so 
nearly  concern  their  temporal  salvation  ?  For  his  part,  what 
ever  anguish  of  spirit  it  might  cost,  he  was  willing  to  know 
the  whole  truth ;  to  know  the  worst,  and  to  provide  for  it." 

"  He  had,"  he  said,  "  but  one  lamp  by  which  his  feet  were 
guided ;  and  that  was  the  lamp  of  experience.  He  knew 


PATRICK     HENRY.  139 

of  no  way  of  judging  of  the  future  but  by  the  past.  And 
judging  by  the  past,  he  wished  to  know  what  there  had 
been  in  the  conduct  of  the  British  ministry  for  the  last  ten 
years,  to  justify  those  hopes  with  which  gentlemen  had  been 
pleased  to  solace  themselves  and  the  house  ?  Is  it  that  in 
sidious  smile  with  which  our  petition  has  been  lately  receiv 
ed  ?  Trust  it  not,  sir ;  it  will  prove  a  snare  to  your  feet. 
Suffer  not  yourselves  to  be  betrayed  with  a  kiss.  Ask  your 
selves  how  this  gracious  reception  of  our  petition  comports 
with  those  warlike  preparations  which  cover  our  waters  and 
darken  our  land.  Are  fleets  and  armies  necessary  to  a  work 
of  love  and  reconciliation  ?  Have  we  shown  ourselves  so 
unwilling  to  be  reconciled,  that  force  must  be  called  in  to 
win  back  our  love?  Let  us  not  deceive  ourselves,  sir. 
These  are  the  implements  of  war  and  subjugation — the  last 
arguments  to  which  kings  resort.  I  ask  gentlemen,  sir, 
what  means  this  martial  array,  if  its  purpose  be  not  to  force 
us  to  submission  ?  Can  gentlemen  assign  any  other  possible 
motive  for  it  ?  Has  Great  Britain  any  enemy  in  this  quar 
ter  of  the  world,  to  call  for  all  this  accumulation  of  navies  and 
armies  ?  No,  sir,  she  has  none.  They  are  meant  for  us : 
they  can  be  meant  for  no  other.  They  are  sent  over  to  bind 
and  rivet  upon  us  those  chains  which  the  British  ministry 
have  been  so  long  forging.  And  what  have  we  oppose  to 
them  ?  Shall  we  try  argument  ?  Sir,  we  have  been  trying 
that  for  the  last  ten  years.  Have  we  any  thing  new  to 
offer  upon  the  subject  ?  Nothing.  We  have  held  the  sub 
ject  up  in  every  light  of  which  it  is  capable ;  but  it  has 
been  all  in  viin.  Shall  we  resort  to  entreaty  and  humble 
supplication  ?  What  terms  shall  we  find,  which  have  not 
been  already  exhausted  ?  Let  us  not,  I  beseech  you,  sir, 
deceive  ourselves  longer.  Sir,  we  have  done  every  thing 


140  WIRT'SLIFEOF 

that  could  be  done,  to  avert  the  storm  which  is  now  coming 
on.  We  have  petitioned — we  have  remonstrated — we  have 
supplicated — we  have  prostrated  ourselves  before£the  throne, 
and  have  implored  its  interposition  to  arrest  thgftyranmcal 
hands  of  the  ministry  and  parliament.  Our  petitions  have 
been  slighted ;  our  remonstrances  have  produced  additional 
violence  and  insult ;  our  supplications  have  been  disregard 
ed  ;  and  we  have  been  spurned,  with  contempt,  from  the  foot 
of  the  throne.  In  vain,  after  these  things,  may  we  indulge 
the  fond  hope  of  peace  and  reconcilation.  T^ere_Js_jzo 
longer  any  room  for  hope.  If  we  wish  to  be  free — if  we 
mean  to  preserve  inviolate  those  inestimable  privileges  for 
which  we  have  been  so  long  contending — if  we  mean  not 
basely  to  abandon  the  noble  struggle  in  which  we  have  been 
so  long  engaged,  and  which  we  have  pledged  ourselves  never 
to  abandon,  until  the  glorious  object  of  our  contest  shall  be 
obtained— we  must  fight  IfcrJ  repeat  it,  sir,  we  must  fight!)  J 
An  appeal  to  arms  and  to  the  God  of  hosts,  is  all  that  is 
left  us  !"* 

y  tell  us,  sir,"  continued  Mr.  Henry,  "  that  we  are 
weak-^-unable  to  cope  with  so  formidable  an  adversary.  But 
when  shall  we  be  stronger.  7  Will  it  be  the  next  week  or 

\  *  "Imagine  to  yourself,"  says  my  correspondent,  (Judge  Tucker.)  j 
iEThis  sentence  delivered  with  all  the  calm  dignity  of  Cato,  of  Utica — ' 
imagine  to  yourself  the  Roman  senate,  assembled  in  the  capitol,  when 
it  was  entered  by  the  profane  Gauls,  who,  at  first,  were  awed  by  their 
presence,  as  if  they  had  entered  an  assembly  of  the  gods ! — imagine 
that  you  heard  that  Cato  addressing  such  a  senate — imagine  that  you 
saw  the  handwriting  on  the  wall  of  Belshazzar's  palace — imagine 
you  heard  a  voice  as  from  heaven  uttering  the  words :  '  We  mustfghtS 
as  the  doom  oi  fate,  and  you  may  have  some  idea  of  the  speaker,  the 
assembly  to  whom  he  addressed  himself,  and  the  auditory,  of  which 
I  was  one." 


PATRICK    HENRY.  141 

the  next  year  ?  Will  it  be  when  we  are  totally  disarmed, 
and  when  a  British  guard  shall  be  stationed  in  every  house  ? 
Shall  we  gather  strength  by  irresolution  and  inaction  ?  Shall 
we  acquire  the  means  of  effectual  resistance  by  lying  su 
pinely  on  our  backs,  and  hugging  the  delusive  phantom  of 
hope,  until  our  enemies  shall  have  bound  us  hand  and  foot  ? 
Sir,  we  are  not  weak,  if  we  make  a  proper  use  of  those 
means  which  the  God  of  nature  hath  placed  in  our  power. 
Three  millions  of  people  armed  in  the  holy  cause  of  liberty, 
and  in  such  a  country  as  that  which  we  possess,  are  invin 
cible  by  any  force  which  our  enemy  can  send  against  us. 
Besides,  sir,  we  shall  not  fight  our  battles  alone.  There  is 
a  just  God  who  presides  over  the  destinies  of  nations,  and 
who  will  raise  /upjfriends  to  fight  our  battles  for  us.  The 
battle,  sir,  is  not  to  the  strong  alone  ;  it  is  to  the  vigilant,  the 
active,  the  brave.  Besides,  sir,  we  have  no  election.  If  we 
were  base  enough  to  desire  it,  it  is  now  too  late  to  retire  from 
the  contest  There  is  no  retreat  but  in  submission  and 
slavery !  Our  chains  are  forged.  Their  clanking  may  be 
heard  on  the  plains  of  Boston  !  The  war  is  inevitable — and 
let  it  come  £!  J I  repeat  it,  sir,  let  it  come  l[\  Ij 

"  It  is.vain,  sir,  to  extenuate  the  matter.  Gentlemen  may 
cry,  peace,  peace — but  there  is  no  peace.  The  war  is  actually 
begun!  The  next  gale  that  sweeps  from  the  north  will 
bring  to  our  ears  the  clash  of  resounding  arms  !  Our  breth 
ren  are  already  in  the  field  !  Why  stand  we  here  idle  ? 
What  is  it  that  gentlemen  wish  ?  What  would  they  have  ? 
Is  life  so  dear,  or  peace  so  sweet,  as  to  be  purchased  at  the 
price  of  chains  and  slavery  ?  Forbid  it,  Almighty  God  jCjl 
know  not  what  course  others  may  take  ;  but  as  for  me," 
/  cried  he,  with  both  his  arms  extended  aloft,  his  brows  knit, , 
every  feature  marked  with  the  resolute  purpose  of  his  soul, 


142  WIRT'SLIFEOF 

-*•— \ 

and  his  voice  swelled  to  its  boldest  note  of  exclamation-^-J 
11  give  me  liberty,  or  give  me  death  !" 

He  took  his  seat.  No  murmur  of  applause  was  heard.  The 
effect  was  too  deep.  After  the  trance  of  a  moment,  several 
members  started  from  their  seats.  The  cry,  "  to  arms !" 
seemed  to  quiver  on  every  lip,  and  gleam  from  every  eye f 
Richard  H.  Lee  arose  and  supported  Mr.  Henry,  with  his 
usual  spirit  and  elegance.  But  his  melody  was  lost  amid  the 
agitations  of  that  ocean,  which  the  master-spirit  of  the  storm 
had  lifted  up  on  high.  That  supernatural  voice  still  sounded 
in  their  ears,  and  shivered  along  their  arteries.  They  heard, 
in  every  pause,  the  cry  of  liberty  or  death.  They  became 
impatient  of  speech — their  souls  were  on  fire  for  action.* 

The  resolutions  were  adopted ;  and  Patrick  Henry,  Rich 
ard  H.  Lee,  Robert  C.  Nicholas,  Benjamin  Harrison,  Lem 
uel  Riddick,  George  Washington,  Adam  Stevens,  Andrew 

*  Mr.  Randolph,  in  his  manuscript  history,  has  given  a  most  elo 
quent  and  impressive  account  of  this  debate.  Since  these  sheets  were 
prepared  for  the  press,  and  at  the  moment  of  their  departure  from  the 
hands  of  the  author,  he  has  received  from  Chief  Justice  Marshall,  a 
note  in  relation  to  the  same  debate,  which  he  thinks  too  interesting  to 
suppress.  It  is  the  substance  oi  a  statement  made  to  the  chief  justice 
(then  an  ardent  youth,  feeling  a  most  enthusiastic  admiration  of  elo 
quence,  and  panting  for  war)  by  his  father,  who  was  a  member  of  this 
convention.  Mr.  Marshall,  (the  father,)  after  speaking  of  Mr.  Henry's 
speech,  "  as  one  of  the  most  bold,  vehement,  and  animated  pieces  of 
eloquence  that  had  ever  been  delivered,"  proceeded  to  state,  that  "he 
was  followed  by  Mr.  Richard  H.  Lee,  who  took  a  most  interesting 
view  of  our  real  situation.  He  stated  the  force  which  Britain  could 
probably  bring  to  bear  upon  us,  and  reviewed  our  resources  and  means 
of  resistance.  He  stated  the  advantages  and  disadvantages  of  both 
parties,  and  drew  from  this  statement  auspicious  inferences.  But  he 
concluded  with  saying,  admitting  the  probable  calculations  to  be 
against  us,  we  are  assured  in  holy  writ  that  '  the  race  is  not  to  the 


P  A  T  R  I  C  K    H  E  N  R  Y  .  143 

Lewis,  William  Christian,  Edmund  Pendleton,  Thomas  Jef 
ferson,  and  Isaac  Zane,  esquires,  were  appointed  a  commit 
tee  to  prepare  the  plan  called  for  by  the  last  resolution.* 

The  constitution  of  this  committee  proves,  that  in  those 
days  of  genuine  patriotism  there  existed  a  mutual  and  noble 
confidence,  which  deemed  the  opponents  of  a  measure  no 
less  worthy  than  its  friends  to  assist  in  its  execution.  A  cor 
respondent,!  who  bore  himself  a  most  distinguished  part  in 
our  revolution,  in  speaking  of  the  gentlemen  whom  I  have 
just  named,  as  having  opposed  Mr.  Henry's  resolutions,  and 
of  Mr.  Wythe  who  acted  with  them,  says :  "  These  were 
honest  and  able  men,  who  had  begun  the  opposition  on  the 
same  grounds,  but  with  a  moderation  more  adapted  to  their 
age  and  experience.  Subsequent  events  favoured  the  bolder 
spirits  of  Henry,  the  Lees,  Pages,  Mason,  &c.,  with  whom  I 
went  in  all  points.  Sensible,  however,  of  the  importance  of 
unanimity  among  our  constituents,  although  we  often  wished 

swift,  nor  the  battle  to  the  strong  ;  and  if  the  language  of  genius  may 
be  added  to  inspiration,  I  will  say  with  our  immortal  bard  : — 
c  Thrice  is  he  armed,  who  hath  his  quarrel  just ! 
And  he  but  naked,  though  lock'd  up  in  steel, 
Whose  conscience  with  injustice  is  oppress'd  !'  " 

*  Colonel  Robert  Carter  Nicholas  (although  opposed  like  all  the 
older  patriots,  from  the  considerations  which  have  been  stated  in  the 
text,  to  resistance  at  this  particular  point  of  time)  was,  nevertheless, 
one  of  the  firmest  supporters  of  the  principles  of  the  revolution.  As 
soon,  therefore,  as  the  measure  of  resistance  was  carried,  in  order  to 
give  to  it  the  greatest  effect,  he  rose  and  moved  to  change  the  system  ; 
and,  instead  of  arming  the  militia,  to  raise  ten  thousand  regulars  for 
the  war;  but  the  motion  was  overruled.  Chief  Justice  Marshall 
says :  "  I  have  frequently  heard  my  father  speak  of  Colonel  Nicholas's 
motion,  to  raise  ten  thousand  men  for  the  war." 

t  Mr.  Jefferson. 


144  WIRT's    LIFE    OF 

lo  have  gone  on  faster,  we  slackened  our  pace,  that  our  lc*s 
ardent  colleagues  might  keep  up  with  us ;  and  they,  on  their 
part,  differing  nothing  from  us  in  principle,  quickened  their 
gait  somewhat  beyond  that  which  their  prudence  might, 
of  itself,  have  advised,  and  thus  consolidated  the  phalanx 
which  breasted  the  power  of  Britain.  By  this  harmony  of  the 
bold  with  the  cautious,  we  advanced,  with  our  constituents, 
in  undivided  mass,  and  with  fewer  examples  of  separation 
than  perhaps  existed  in  any  other  part  of  the  union." 

The  plan  for  imbodying,  arming,  and  disciplining  the  mili 
tia,  proposed  by  the  committee  which  has  just  been  men 
tioned,  was  received  and  adopted,  and  is  in  the  following 
erms  : — 

"  The  committee  propose  that  it  be  strongly  recommended 
to  the  colony,  diligently  to  put  in  execution  the  militia  law 
passed  in  the  year  1738,  entitled,  'An  act  for  the  better  regu 
lating  of  the  militia,'  which  has  become  in  force  by  the  expi 
ration  of  all  subsequent  militia  laws. 

"  The  committee  are  further  of  opinion,  that  as,  from  the 
expiration  of  the  abovementioned  laws,  and  various  other 
causes,  the  legal  and  necessary  disciplining  the  militia  has 
been  much  neglected,  and  a  proper  provision  of  arms  and 
ammunition  has  not  been  made,  to  the  evident  danger  of  the 
community,  in  case  of  invasion  or  insurrection  ;  that  it  be 
recommended  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  several  counties  of 
this  colony,  that  they  form  one  or  more  volunteer  companies 
of  infantry  and  troops  of  horse  in  each  county,  and  to  be  in 
constant  training  and  readiness  to  act  on  any  emergency. 

"  That  it  be  recommended  particularly  to  the  counties 
of  Brunswick,  Dinwiddie,  Chesterfield,  Henrico,  Hanover, 
Spotsylvania,  King  George,  and  Stafford,  and  to  all  counties 
below  these,  that,  out  of  such  of  their  volunteers,  they  form, 


PATRICK      HENRY.  145 

each  of  them,  one  or  more  troops  of  horse ;  and  to  all  the 
counties  above  these,  it  is  recommended  that  they  pay  a  more 
particular  attention  to  forming  a  good  infantry. 

"  That  each  company  of  infantry  consist  of  sixty-eight, 
rank  and  file,  to  be  commanded  by  one  captain,  two  lieuten 
ants,  one  ensign,  four  sergeants,  and  four  corporals ;  and 
that  they  have  a  drummer,  and  be  furnished  with  a  drum 
and  colours ;  that  every  man  be  provided  with  a  good  rifle, 
if  to  be  had,  or  otherwise  with  a  common  firelock,  bayonet, 
and  cartouch-box,  and  also  with  a  tomahawk,  one  pound  of 
gunpowder,  and  four  pounds  of  ball  at  least,  fitted  to  the  bore 
of  his  gun ;  that  he  be  clothed  in  a  hunting-shirt,  by  way  of 
uniform ;  and  that  he  use  all  endeavour,  as  soon  as  possible, 
to  become  acquainted  with  the  military  exercise  for  infantry, 
appointed  to  be  used  by  his  majesty  in  the  year  1764. 

"  That  each  troop  of  horse  consist  of  thirty,  exclusive 
of  officers  ;  that  every  horseman  be  provided  with  a  good 
horse,  bridle,  saddle,  with  pistols  and  holsters,  a  carbine 
or  other  short  firelock,  with  a  bucket,  a  cutting-sword  or 
tomahawk,  one  pound  of  gunpowder,  and  four  pounds  of  ball, 
at  least ;  and  use  the  utmost  diligence  in  training  and  accus 
toming  his  horse  to  stand  the  discharge  of  firearms,  and  in 
making  himself  acquainted  with  the  military  exercise  for 
cavalry. 

"  That  in  order  to  make  a  further  and  more  ample  provis 
ion  of  ammunition,  it  be  recommended  to  the  committees  of 
the  several  counties,  that  they  collect  from  their  constituents, 
in  such  manner  as  shall  be  most  agreeable  to  them,  so  much 
money  as  will  be  sufficient  to  purchase  half  a  pound  of  gun 
powder,  one  pound  of  lead,  necessary  flints  and  cartridge- 
paper,  for  every  titheable  person  in  their  county ;  that  they 
immediately  take  effectual  measures  for  the  procuring  such 
T  13 


146  WIRT'SLIFEOF 

gunpowder,  lead,  flints,  and  cartridge-paper,  and  dispose 
thereof,  when  procured,  in  such  place  or  places  of  safety  as 
they  may  think  best :  and  it  is  earnestly  recommended  to 
each  individual  to  pay  such  proportion  of  the  money  neces 
sary  for  these  purposes,  as  by  the  respective  committees  shall 
be  judged  requisite. 

"  That  as  it  may  happen  that  some  counties,  from  their 
situation,  may  not  be  apprized  of  the  most  certain  and  speedy 
method  of  procuring  the  articles  before-mentioned,  one  gene 
ral  committee  should  be  appointed,  whose  business  it  should 
be,  to  procure  for  such  counties  as  may  make  application  to 
them,  such  articles,  and  so  much  thereof,  as  the  moneys 
wherewith  they  shall  furnish  the  said  committee  will  purchase, 
after  deducting  the  charges  of  transportation,  and  other  neces 
sary  expenses." 

At  the  same  session  of  the  convention,  I  find  that  the  alert 
and  inquiring  spirit  of  Mr.  Henry  laid  hold  of  another  in 
stance  of  royal  misrule.  Governor  Dunmore,  it  seems,  by  a 
recent  proclamation,  had  declared,  that  his  majesty  had  given 
orders  for  all  vacant  lands  within  this  colony  to  be  put  up  in 
lots  at  public  sale  ;  and  that  the  highest  bidder  for  such  lots 
should  be  the  purchaser  thereof,  and  should  hold  the  same, 
subject  to  a  reservation  of  one  halfpenny  per  acre,  by  way  of 
annual  quitrent,  and  of  all  mines  of  gold,  silver,  and  precious 
stones.  These  terms  were  deemed  an  innovation  on  the  es 
tablished  usage  of  granting  lands  in  this  colony ;  and  this  sa 
gacious  politician  saw  in  the  proceeding,  not  only  an  usurpa 
tion  of  power,  but  a  great  subduction  of  the  natural  wealth  of 
the  colony,  and  the  creation,  moreover,  of  a  separate  band  of 
tenants  and  retainers,  devoted  to  the  vilest  measures  of  the 
crown.  With  a  view,  therefore,  to  defeat  this  measure,  he 
moved  the  following  resolution,  which  was  adopted  : — 


PATRICK     HENRY.  147 

"Resolved,  That  a  committee  be  appointed  to  inquire, 
whether  his  majesty  may  of  right  advance  the  terms  of  grant- 
ing  lands  in  this  colony,  and  make  report  thereof  to  the  next 
genera,  assembly  or  convention ;  and  that  in  the  meantime 
it  be  recommended  to  all  persons  whatever,  to  forbear  pur 
chasing  or  accepting  lands  on  the  conditions  before  mention 
ed."  Of  this  committee  he  was  of  course  the  chairman ;  and 
ihe  other  members  were  Richard  Bland,  Thomas  Jefferson, 
Robert  C.  Nicholas,  and  Edmund  Pendleton,  esquires. 

The  convention  having  adopted  a  plan  for  the  encourage 
ment  of  arts  and  manufactures  in  this  colony,  and  reappoint- 
ed  their  former  deputies  to  the  continental  congress,  with  the 
substitution  of  Mr.  Jefferson  for  Mr.  Peyton  Randolph,  in 
case  of  the  non-attendance  of  the  latter  ;*  and  having  also 
provided  for  a  re-election  of  delegates  to  the  next  convention, 
came  to  an  adjournment.! 

*  He  was  speaker  of  the  house  of  burgesses,  a  call  of  which  was 
expected,  and  did  accordingly  take  place. 

f  It  is  curious  to  read  in  the  file  of  papers  from  which  the  foregoing 
proceedings  are  extracted,  and  immediately  following  them  this  pro- 
:lamation  of  his  Excellency  Lord  Dunmore : — 

"Whereas,  certain  persons,  styling  themselves  delegates  of  several 
of  his  majesty's  colonies  in  America,  have  presumed,  without  his 
majesty's  authority  or  consent,  to  assemble  together  at  Philadelphia,  in 
the  months  of  September  and  October  last,  and  have  thought  fit, 
among  other  unwarrantable  proceedings,  to  resolve  that  it  will  be 
necessary  that  another  congress  should  be  held  at  the  same  place  on  the 
10th  of  May  next,  unless  redress  of  certain  pretended  grievances  be 
obtained  before  that  time :  and  to  recommend  that  all  the  colonies  of 
North  America  should  choose  deputies  to  attend  such  congress :  lam 
commanded  by  the  king,  and  I  do  accordingly  issue  this  my  proclama 
tion,  to  require  all  magistrates  and  other  officers  to  use  their  utmost 
endeavours  to  prevent  any  such  appointment  of  deputies,  and  to  ex- 


148  PATRICK    HENRY 

hort  all  persons  whatever  within  this  government,  to  desist  from  such 
an  unjustifiable  proceeding,  so  highly  displeasing  to  his  majesty." 

This  proclamation  was  published  while  the  convention  was  in  ses 
sion,  and  was  obviously  designed  to  have  an  effect  on  their  proceed 
ings.  It  passed  by  them,  however,  "  as  the  idle  wind  which  they  re 
garded  not."  The  age  of  proclamations  was  gone,  and  the  glory  of 
regal  governors  pretty  nearly  extinguished  for  ever. 

It  ought  not  to  be  omitted,  however,  that  this  very  convention  pass 
ed  resolutions  complimentary  to  Lord  Dunmore,  and  the  troops  which 
he  had  commanded  in  an  expedition  of  the  preceding  year  against 
the  Indians :  a  compliment  which,  as  we  shall  see,  was  afterward 
found  to  be  unmerited.  As  the  resolution  in  regard  to  Lord  Dunmore 
does  honour  to  the  candour  of  the  convention,  and  shows  also  how 
little  personality  there  was  in  the  contest,  I  take  leave  to  subjoin  it : — 

"  Resolved,  unanimously,  That  the  most  cordial  thanks  of  the  peo 
ple  of  this  colony  are  a  tribute  justly  due  to  our  worthy  governor,  Lord 
Dunmore,  for  his  truly  noble,  wise,  and  spirited  conduct,  on  the  late 
expedition  against  our  Indian  enemy — a  conduct  which  at  once  evinces 
his  excellency's  attention  to  the  true  interests  of  this  colony,  and  a 
zeal  in  the  executive  department  which  no  dangers  can  divert,  or  dif 
ficulties  hinder,  from  achieving  the  most  important  services  to  the 
people  who  have  the  happiness  to  live  under  his  administration." 

Lord  Dunmore  was  not  a  man  of  popular  manners ;  he  had  nothing 
of  the  mildness,  the  purity,  the  benevolence  and  suavity  of  his  prede 
cessor.  On  the  contrary,  he  is  represented  as  having  been  rude  and 
offensive ;  coarse  in  his  figure,  his  countenance,  and  his  manners.  Yet 
he  received  from  the  house  of  burgesses  the  most  marked  respect. 
Thus,  in  1774,  while  the  liberties  of  the  colonies  were  bleeding  at 
every  pore,  and  while  the  house  was  smarting  severely,  under  the  re 
cent  news  of  the  occlusion  of  the  port  of  Boston,  they  paid  to  Lady 
Dunmore,  who  had  just  arrived  at  Williamsburg,  the  most  cordial  and 
elegant  attentions,  congratulated  his  lordship  on  this  increase  to  his 
domestic  felicity ;  and  even,  after  their  abrupt  dissolution,  compli 
mented  the  inhabitants  of  the  palace  with  a  splendid  ball  and  enter 
tainment,  in  honour  of  the  arrival  of  the  Countess  Dunmore  and  her 
family. 


SECTION     V 

THE  storm  of  the  revolution  now  began  to  tmcken.  The 
cloud  of  war  had  actually  burst  on  the  New  England  states, 
while  as  yet  the  middle  and  southern  colonies  were  in  com 
parative  repose.  The  calm,  however,  was  deceitful,  and  of 
short  duration ;  and,  as  far  as  Virginia  was  concerned,  had 
been  occasioned  rather  by  the  absence  of  Governor  Dunmore 
on  an  Indian  expedition,  than  any  disposition  on  his  part  to 
favour  the  colony.  His  return  to  Williamsburg  was  the 
signal  for  violence. 

It  seems  to  have  been  a  matter  of  concert  among  the  colo 
nial  governors,  if  indeed  the  policy  was  not  dictated  by  the 
British  court,  to  disarm  the  people  of  all  the  colonies  at  one 
and  the  same  time,  and  thus  incapacitate  them  for  united 
resistance. 

To  give  effect  to  this  measure,  the  export  of  powder  from 
Great  Britain  was  prohibited ;  and  an  attempt  was  generally 
made  about  the  same  period  to  seize  the  powder  and  arms 
in  the  several  provincial  magazines.  Gage,  the  successor  of 
Hutchinson  in  the  government  of  Massachusetts,  set  the  ex 
ample,  by  a  seizure  of  the  ammunition  and  military  stores  at 
Cambridge,  and  the  powder  in  the  magazines  at  Charlestown, 
and  other  places.  His  example  was  followed  by  similar 
attempts  in  other  colonies  to  the  north.  And  on  Thursday, 
the  20th  of  April,  1775,  Captain  Henry  Collins,  of  the  arm 
ed  schooner  Magdalen,  then  lying  at  BurwelPs  ferry,  on 
James  river,  came  up  at  the  head  of  a  body  of  marines, 
149  13* 


150  WIRT'S    LIFE    OF 

and,  acting  under  the  orders  of  Lord  Dunmore,  entered  the 
city  of  Williamsburg  in  the  dead  of  the  night,  and  carried 
off  from  the  public  magazine  about  twenty  barrels  of  pow 
der,  which  he  placed  on  board  his  schooner  before  the  break 
of  day.  Clandestine  as  the  movement  had  been,  the  alarm 
was  given  to  the  inhabitants  early  on  the  next  morning. 
Their  exasperation  may  be  easily  conceived.  The  town  was 
in  tumult.  A  considerable  body  of  them  flew  to  arms,  with 
the  determination  to  compel  Capt.  Collins  to  restore  the  pow 
der.  With  much  difficulty,  however,  they  were  restrained 
by  the  graver  inhabitants  of  the  town,  and  by  the  members 
of  the  common  council,  who  assured  them  that  proper  meas 
ures  should  be  immediately  used  to  produce  a  restoration  of 
the  powder,  without  the  effusion  of  human  blood.  The  coun 
cil,  therefore,  met  in  their  corporate  character,  and  addressed 
the  following  letter  to  Governor  Dunmore  : — 

"  To  his  Excellency  the  Right  Hon.  John,  Earl  of  Dunmore, 
his  majesty's  lieutenant,  governor-general,  and  commander- 
in-chief  of  the  colony  and  dominion  of  Virginia : — The  hum 
ble  address  of  the  mayor,  recorder,  aldermen  and  common 
council  of  the  city  of  Williamsburg : — 
"  My  Lord — We,  his  majesty's  dutiful  and  loyal  subjects, 
the  mayor,  recorder,  aldermen  and  common  council  of  the 
city  of  Williamsburg,  in  common  hall  assembled,  humbly 
beg  leave  to  represent  to  your  excellency,  that  the  inhabitants 
of  this  city  were  this  morning  exceedingly  alarmed  by  a  report 
that  a  large  quantity  of  gunpowder  was,  in  the  preceding  night, 
while  they  were  sleeping  in  their  beds,  removed  from  the 
public  magazine  in  this  city,  and  conveyed,  under  an  escort 
of  marines,  on  board  one  of  his  majesty's  armed  vessels  lying 
at  a  ferry  on  James  river. 


PATRICK     HENRY.  151 

"  We  oeg  leave  to  represent  to  your  excellency,  that,  as 
the  magazine  was  erected  at  the  public  expense  of  this 
colony,  and  appropriated  to  the  safe-keeping  of  such  munition 
as  should  be  there  lodged,  from  time  to  time,  for  the  protec 
tion  and  security  of  the  country,  by  arming  thereout  such  of 
the  militia  as  might  be  necessary  in  cases  of  invasions  and 
insurrections,  they  humbly  conceive  it  to  be  the  only  proper 
repository  to  be  resorted  to  in  times  of  imminent  danger. 

"  We  further  beg  leave  to  inform  your  excellency,  that 
from  various  reports  at  present  prevailing  in  different  parts 
of  the  country,  we  have  too  much  reason  to  believe  that  some 
wicked  and  designing  persons  have  instilled  the  most  diabol 
ical  notions  into  the  minds  of  our  slaves  ;  and  that,  therefore, 
the  utmost  attention  to  our  internal  security  is  become  the 
more  necessary. 

"  The  circumstances  of  this  city,  my  lord,  we  consider  as 
peculiar  and  critical.  The  inhabitants,  from  the  situation  of 
the  magazine  in  the  midst  of  their  city,  have  for  a  long  tract 
of  time,  been  exposed  to  all  those  dangers  which  have  hap 
pened  in  many  countries  from  explosions,  and  other  acci 
dents.  They  have,  from  time  to  time,  thought  it  incumbent 
on  them  to  guard  the  magazine.  For  their  security  they 
have,  for  some  time  past,  judged  it  necessary  to  keep  strong 
patrols  on  foot ;  in  their  present  circumstances,  then,  to  have 
the  chief  and  necessary  means  of  their  defence  removed, 
cannot  but  be  extremely  alarming. 

"  Considering  ourselves  as  guardians  of  the  city,  we  there 
fore  humbly  desire  to  be  informed  by  your  excellency,  upon 
what  motives,  and  for  what  particular  purpose,  the  powder 
has  been  carried  off  in  such  a  manner ;  and  we  earnestly 
entreat  your  excellency  to  order  it  to  be  immediately  return 
ed  to  the  magazine." 


152  WIRT  S    LIFE    OF 

To  which  his  excellency  returned  this  verbal  answer : — 
"  That  hearing  of  an  insurrection  in  a  neighbouring  coun 
ty,  he  had  removed  the  powder  from  the  magazine,  where 
he  did  not  think  it  secure,  to  a  place  of  perfect  security ;  and 
that,  upon  his  word  and  honour,  whenever  it  was  wanted 
on  any  insurrection,  it  should  be  delivered  in  half  an  hour ; 
that  he  had  removed  it  in  the  night-time,  to  prevent  any 
alarm,  and  that  Captain  Collins  had  his  express  commands 
for  the  part  he  had  acted ;  he  was  surprised  to  hear  the  peo 
ple  were  under  arms  on  this  occasion,  and  that  he  should 
not  think  it  prudent  to  put  powder  into  their  hands  in  such 
a  situation." 

This  conditional  promise  of  the  return  of  the  powder,  sup 
ported  by  the  influence  of  Mr.  Peyton  Randolph,  Mr.  Robert 
C.  Nicholas,  and  other  characters  of  weight,  had  the  effect, 
it  seems,  of  quieting  the  inhabitants  for  that  day.  On  the 
succeeding  night,  however,  a  new  alarm  took  place,  on  a 
report  that  a  number  of  armed  men  had  again  landed  from 
the  Magdalen,  about  four  miles  below  the  city,  with  a  view, 
it  was  presumed,  of  making  another  visit  of  nocturnal  plunder. 
The  inhabitants  again  flew  to  arms  ;  but,  on  the  interposition 
of  the  same  eminent  citizens,  the  ferment  was  allayed,  and 
nothing  more  was  done  than  to  strengthen  the  usual  patrol 
for  the  defence  of  the  city.  On  the  next  day,  Saturday 
the  22d  of  April,  when  every  thing  was  perfectly  quiet, 
Lord  Dunmore,  with  rather  more  heat  than  discretion,  sent  a 
message  into  the  city,  by  one  of  the  magistrates,  and  which 
his  lordship  had  delivered  with  the  most  solemn  assevera 
tions,  that  if  any  insult  were  offered  to  Capt.  Foy,  (a  British 
captain  residing  at  the  palace,  as  his  secretary,  and  consider 
ed  to  be  the  instigator  of  the  governor  to  his  violences, )  or 
to  Capt.  Collins,  he  would  declare  freedom  to  the  slaves, 


PATRICK  HENRY.  153 

and  lay  the  town  in  ashes ;  and  he  added,  that  he  could 
easily  depopulate  the  whole  country.  At  this  time,  both 
Capt.  Foy  and  Collins  were  and  had  been  continually  walk 
ing  the  streets,  at  their  pleasure,  without  the  slightest  indi 
cation  of  disrespect.  The  effect  of  a  threat,  so  diabolically 
ferocious,  directed  towards  the  people  who  had  ever  shown 
him  and  his  family  such  enthusiastic  marks  of  respect  and 
attention,  and  following  so  directly  the  plunder  of  the  maga 
zine,  will  be  readily  conceived.  Yet  it  broke  not  out  into  any 
open  act.  His  lordship  remained  unmolested  even  by  a  dis 
respectful  look.  The  augmented  patrol  was  kept  up  ;  but 
no  defensive  preparation  was  made  by  the  inhabitants  of 
the  city. 

The  transactions  which  were  passing  in  the  metropolis 
circulated  through  the  country  with  a  rapidity  proportioned 
to  their  interest,  and  with  this  farther  aggravation,  which  was 
also  true  in  point  of  fact,  that  in  addition  to  the  clandestine 
removal  of  the  powder,  the  governor  had  caused  the  muskets 
in  the  magazine  to  be  stripped  of  their  locks. 

In  the  midst  of  the  irritation  excited  by  this  intelligence, 
came  the  news  of  the  bloody  battles  of  Lexington  and  Con 
cord,  resulting  from  an  attempt  of  the  governor-general  Gage, 
to  seize  the  military  stores  deposited  at  the  latter  place. 
The  system  of  colonial  subjugation  was  now  apparent :  the 
effect  was  instantaneous.  The  whole  country  flew  to  arms. 
The  independent  companies,  formed  in  happier  times  for  the 
purpose  of  military  discipline,  and  under  the  immediate  aus 
pices  of  Lord  Dunmore  himself,  raised  the  standard  of  liberty 
in  every  county.  By  the  27th  of  April,  there  was  assembled 
at  Fredericksburg  upwards  of  seven  hundred  men  well-arm 
ed  and  disciplined,  "  friends  of  constitutional  liberty  and 
America ."  Their  march,  however,  was  arrested  by  a  letter 

u 


154  WIRT'SLIFEOF 

from  Mr.  Peyton  Randolph,  in  reply  to  an  express,  and  re 
ceived  on  the  29th,  by  which  they  were  informed  that  the 
gentlemen  of  the  city  and  neighbourhood  of  Williamsburg, 
had  had  full  assurance  from  his  excellency,  that  the  affair  oi 
the  powder  should  be  accommodated,  and  advising  that  the 
gentlemen  of  Fredericksburg  should  proceed  no  farther. — 
On  the  receipt  of  this  letter,  a  council  was  held  of  one  hun 
dred  and  two  members,  delegates  of  the  provincial  conven 
tion,  and  officers  and  special  deputies  of  fourteen  companies 
of  light-horse,  then  rendezvoused  on  the  ground  ;  who,  after 
the  most  spirited  expression  of  their  sentiments  on  the  con 
duct  of  the  governor,  and  after  giving  a  mutual  pledge  to 
be  in  readiness  at  a  moment's  warning,  to  reassemble,  and 
by  force  of  arms  to  defend  the  laws,  the  liberty,  and  rights 
of  this  or  any  sister-colony  from  unjust  and  wicked  invasion, 
advised  the  return  of  the  several  companies  to  their  respec 
tive  homes ;  and  also  ordered  that  expresses  should  be  de 
spatched  to  the  troops  assembled  at  the  Bowling  Green,  and 
also  to  the  companies  from  Frederick,  Berkley,  Dunmore, 
and  such  other  counties  as  were  then  on  their  march,  to  re 
turn  them  thanks  for  their  cheerful  offers  of  service,  and  to 
acquaint  them  with  the  determination  then  taken.  By  way 
of  parody  on  the  governor's  conclusion  of  the  proclamations, 
by  which  he  was  striving  to  keep  down  the  spirit  of  the 
country,  "  God  save  the  king,"  the  council  concluded  their 
address  with  "  God  save  the  liberties  of  America." 

Mr.  Henry,  however,  was  not  disposed  to  let  this  incident 
pass  off  so  lightly.  His  was  a  mind  that  watched  events 
with  the  coolness  and  sagacity  of  a  veteran  statesman.  He 
kindled,  indeed,  in  the  universal  indignation  which  the  con 
duct  of  the  governor  was  so  well  calculated  to  excite  ;  seeing 
clearly  the  inconvenience  which  the  colony  must  experience 


PATRICK     HENRY  155 

in  the  approaching  contest,  from  the  loss  of  even  that  small 
store  of  ammunition.  This,  however,  was  a  minor  object  in 
his  esteem.  What  he  deemed  of  much  higher  importance, 
was,  that  that  blow,  which  must  be  struck  sooner  or  later, 
should  be  struck  at  once,  before  an  overwhelming  force  should 
enter  the  colony ;  that  that  habitual  deference  and  subjection 
which  the  people  were  accustomed  to  feel  toward  the  gover 
nor,  as  the  representative  of  royalty,  and  which  bound  their 
spirits  in  a  kind  of  torpid  spell,  should  be  dissolved  and  dis 
sipated  ;  that  the  military  resources  of  the  country  should 
be  developed;  that  the  people  might  see  and  feel  their 
strength  by  being  brought  out  together :  that  the  revolution 
should  be  set  in  actual  motion  in  the  colony ;  that  the  martial 
prowess  of  the  country  should  be  awakened,  and  the  soldiery 
animated  by  that  proud  and  resolute  confidence,  which  a  suc 
cessful  enterprise  in  the  commencement  of  a  contest  never 
fails  to  inspire.  These  sentiments  were  then  avowed  by  him 
to  two  confidential  friends  ;*  to  whom  he  farther  declared 
that  he  considered  the  outrage  on  the  magazine  a  most  for 
tunate  circumstance  ;  and  as  one  which  would  rouse  the  peo 
ple  from  north  to  south.  "  You  may  in  vain  talk  to  them," 
said  he,  "  about  the  duties  on  tea,  &c.  These  tilings  will 
not  affect  them.  They  depend  on  principles  too  abstracted 
for  their  apprehension  and  feeling.  But  tell  them  of  the  rob 
bery  of  the  magazine,  and  that  the  next  step  will  be  to  dis 
arm  them,  you  bring  the  subject  home  to  their  bosoms,  and 
they  will  be  ready  to  fly  to  arms  to  defend  themselves.1' 

To  make   of  this   circumstance  all  the  advantage  which 
he  contemplated,   as   soon  as  the  intelligence  reached  him 

*  Col.   Richard  Morris  and   Captain   George   Dabney;  on  the 
authority  of  Mr.  Dabney. 


156  WIRT'S     LIFE     OF 

from  Williamsburg,  he  sent  express  riders  to  the  members  of 
the  Independent  Company  of  Hanover,  who  were  dispersed 
and  resided  in  different  parts  of  the  country,  requesting  them 
to  meet  him  in  arms,  at  New  Castle,  on  the  second  of  May, 
on  business  of  the  highest  importance  to  American  liberty. 
In  order  to  give  greater  dignity  and  authority  to  the  decisions 
of  that  meeting,  he  convoked  to  the  same  place  the  county 
committee.  When  assembled,  he  addressed  them  with  all 
the  powers  of  his  eloquence  ;  laid  open  the  plan  on  which 
the  British  ministry  had  fallen  to  reduce  the  colonies  to  sub 
jection,  by  robbing  them  of  all  the  means  of  defending  their 
rights;  spread  before  their  eyes,  in  colours  of  vivid  descrip 
tion,  the  fields  of  Lexington  and  Concord,  still  floating  with 
the  blood  of  their  countrymen,  gloriously  shed  in  the  general 
cause  ;  showed  them  that  the  recent  plunder  of  the  magazine 
in  Williamsburg  was  nothing  more  than  a  part  of  the  gene 
ral  system  of  subjugation ;  that  the  moment  was  now  come 
in  which  they  were  called  upon  to  decide,  whether  they 
chose  to  live  free,  and  hand  down  the  noble  inheritance  to 
i  their  children,  or  to  become  hewers  of  wood,  and  drawers  of 
!  water  to  those  lordlings,  who  were  themselves  the  tools  of  a 
;  corrupt  and  tyrannical  ministry — he  painted  the  country  in  a 
state  of  subjugation,  and  drew  such  pictures  of  wretched  de 
basement  and  abject  vassalage,  as  filled  their  souls  with  hor 
ror  and  indignation — on  the  other  hand,  he  carried  them,  by 
the  powers  of  his  eloquence,  to  an  eminence  like  Mount  Pis- 
gah ;  showed  them  the  land  of  promise,  which  was  to  be  won 
by  their  valour,  under  the  support  and  guidance  of  Heaven ; 
and  sketched  a  vision  of  America,  enjoying  the  smiles  of 
liberty  and  peace,  the  rich  productions  of  her  agriculture 
waving  on  every  field,  her  commerce  whitening  every  sea, 
in  teints  so  bright,  so  strong,  so  glowing,  as  set  the  souls  of 


PATRICK    HENRY.  157 

his  hearers  on  fire.  He  had  no  doubt,  he  said,  that  that  God, 
who  in  former  ages  had  hardened  Pharaoh's  heart,  that  he 
might  show  forth  his  power  and  glory  in  the  redemption  of 
his  chosen  people,  had,  for  similar  purposes,  permitted  the 
flagrant  outrages  which  had  occurred  in  Williamsburg,  and 
throughout  the  continent.  It  was  for  them  now  to  deter 
mine,  whether  they  were  worthy  of  this  divine  interference ; 
whether  they  would  accept  the  high  boon  now  held  out  to 
them  by  Heaven — that  if  they  would,  though  it  might  lead 
them  through  a  sea  of  blood,  they  were  to  remember  that  the 
same  God  whose  power  divided  the  Red  sea  for  the  deliver 
ance  of  Israel,  still  reigned  in  all  his  glory,  unchanged  and 
unchangeable — was  still  the  enemy  of  the  oppressor,  and  the 
friend  of  the  oppressed — that  he  would  cover  them  from  their 
enemies  by  a  pillar  of  cloud  by  day,  and  guide  their  feet 
through  the  night  by  a  pillar  of  fire — that  for  his  own  part, 
he  was  anxious  that  his  native  county  should  distinguish 
itself  in  this  grand  career  of  liberty  and  glory,  and  snatch  the 
noble  prize  which  was  now  offered  to  their  grasp — that  no 
time  was  to  be  lost — that  their  enemies  in  this  colony  were 
now  few  and  weak — that  it  would  be  easy  for  them,  by  a 
rapid  and  vigorous  movement,  to  compel  the  restoration  of 
the  powder  which  had  been  carried  off,  or  to  make  a  reprisal 
on  the  king's  revenues  in  the  hands  of  the  receiver-general, 
which  would  fairly  balance  the  account — that  the  Hanover 
volunteers  would  thus  have  an  opportunity  of  striking  the 
first  blow  in  this  colony,  in  the  great  cause  of  American 
liberty,  and  would  cover  themselves  with  never-fading  laurels. 
These  were  heads  of  his  harangue.  I  presume  not  to 
give  the  colouring.  That  was  Mr.  Henry's  own,  and  beyond 
the  power  of  any  man's  imitation.  The  effect,  however,  was 
equal  to  hi?-  wishes.  The  meeting  was  in  a  flame,  and  a 

14 


158  WIRT'S    LIFE     OF 

decision  immediately  taken,  that  the  powder,  should  be  re 
trieved,  or  counterbalanced  by  a  reprisal. 

Capt.  Samuel  Meredith,  who  had  heretofore  commanded 
the  Independent  Company,  resigned  his  commission  in  Mr. 
Henry's  favour,  and  the  latter  gentleman  was  immediately 
invested  with  the  chief  command  of  the  Hanover  volunteers. 
Mr.  Meredith  accepted  the  commission  of  lievitenant ;  and 
the  present  Col.  Parke  Goodall  was  appointed  the  ensign  of 
the  company.  Having  received  orders  from  the  committee, 
correspondent  with  his  own  suggestions,  Capt.  Henry  forth 
with  took  up  his  line  of  March  for  Williamsburg.  Ensign 
Goodall  was  detached,  with  a  party  of  sixteen  men,  to  cross 
the  river  into  King  William  county,  the  residence  of  Richard 
Corbin,  the  king's  receiver-general ;  to  demand  from  him 
three  hundred  and  thirty  pounds,  the  estimated  value  of  the 
powder ;  and,  in  the  event  of  his  refusal,  to  make  him  a 
prisoner.  He  was  ordered,  in  this  case,  to  treat  his  person 
with  all  possible  respect  and  tenderness,  and  to  bring  him  to 
Doncastle's  ordinary,  about  sixteen  miles  above  Williams- 
burg,  where  the  ensign  was  required,  at  all  events,  to  rejoin 
the  main  body.  The  detachment,  in  pursuance  of  their  or 
ders,  reached  the  residence  of  the  receiver-general  some  hours 
after  bedtime,  and  a  guard  was  stationed  around  the  house 
until  morning.  About  daybreak,  however,  the  ladies  of  the 
family  made  their  appearance,  and  gave  the  commanding 
officer  of  the  detachment  the  firm  and  correct  assurance,  that 
Col.  Corbin  was  not  at  home  ;  but  that  the  house,  neverthe 
less,  was  open  to  search,  if  it  was  the  pleasure  of  the  officer 
to  make  it.  The  manner  of  the  assurance,  however,  was 
too  satisfactory  to  render  this  necessary,  and  the  detachment 
hastened  to  form  the  junction  with  the  main  body  which  had 
been  ordered. 


PATRICK    HENRY.  15D 

In  the  meantime,  the  march  of  his  gallant  corps,  in  arms, 
headed  by  a  man  of  Mr.  Henry's  distinction,  produced  the 
most  striking  effects  in  every  quarter.  Correspondent  com 
panies  started  up  on  all  sides,  and  hastened  to  throw  them 
selves  under  the  banners  of  Henry.  It  is  believed  that  five 
thousand  men  at  least,  were  in  arms,  and  were  crossing  the 
country  to  crowd  around  his  standard,  and  support  it  with 
their  lives.  The  march  was  conducted  in  the  most  perfect 
order,  and  with  the  most  scrupulous  respect  to  the  country 
through  which  they  passed.  The  ranks  of  the  royalists 
were  filled  with  dismay.  Lady  Dunmore,  with  her  family, 
retired  to  the  Fowey  man  of  war,  then  lying  off  the  town  of 
Little  York.  Even  the  patriots  in  Williamsburg  were  daunt 
ed  by  the  boldness,  and,  as  they  deemed  it,  the  rashness  of 
the  enterprise.  Messenger  after  messenger  was  despatched 
to  meet  Mr.  Henry  on  the  way,  and  beg  him  to  desist  from 
his  purpose,  and  discharge  his  men.  It  was  in  vain.  He 
was  inflexibly  resolved  to  effect  the  purpose  of  his  expedition, 
or  to  perish  in  the  attempt.  The  messengers  were  therefore 
detained,  that  they  might  not  report  his  strength ;  and  the 
march  was  continued  with  all  possible  celerity.  The  gov 
ernor  issued  a  proclamation,  in  which  he  denounced  the 
movement,  and  called  upon  the  people  of  the  country  to 
resist  it.  He  could  as  easily  have  called  "  spirits  from  the  vasty 
deep."  He  seems  not  to  have  relied  much,  himself,  on  the 
efficacy  of  his  proclamation.  The  palace  was  therefore  filled 
with  arms,  and  a  detachment  of  marines  ordered  up  from  the 
Fowey.  Before  daybreak,  on  the  morning  of  the  4th  of 
May,  Captain  Montague,  the  commander  of  that  ship,  land 
ed  a  party  of  men,  with  the  following  letter,  addressed  to 
the  Honourable  Thomas  Nelson,  the  president  of  his  ma 
jesty's  council : — 


160  WIRT'S     LIFE     OF 

"Fowey,  May  4th,  1775. 
"  Sir, 

"  I  have  this  morning  received  certain  information  that  his 
excellency  Lord  Durimore,  governor  of  Virginia,  is  threaten 
ed  with  an  attack  at  daybreak,  this  morning,  at  his  palace 
in  Williamsburg,  and  have  thought  proper  to  send  a  detach 
ment  from  his  majesty's  ship  under  my  command,  to  sup 
port  his  excellency  :  therefore  strongly  pray  you  to  make  use 
of  every  endeavour  to  prevent  the  party  from  being  molested 
and  attacked,  as  in  that  case  I  must  be  under  a  necessity  to 
fire  upon  this  town.  From 

"  GEORGE  MONTAGUE." 

Lord  Dunmore,  however,  thought  better  of  this  subject, 
and  caused  Mr.  Henry  to  be  met  at  Doncastle's,  about  sun 
rise  on  the  same  morning,  with  the  receiver-general's  bill  of 
exchange,  for  the  sum  required.  It  was  accepted  as  a  satis 
faction  for  the  powder,  and  the  following  receipt  was  passed 
by  Mr.  Henry  : — 

"Doncastle's  Ordinary,  New  Kent,  May 4, 1775. — Receiv 
ed  from  the  Hon.  Richard  Corbin,  Esq.,  his  majesty's  receiver- 
general,  330/.  as  a  compensation  for  the  gunpowder  lately 
taken  out  of  the  public  magazine  by  the  governor's  order ; 
which  money  I  promise  to  convey  to  the  Virginia  delegates  at 
the  general  congress,  to  be,  under  their  direction,  laid  out 
in  gunpowder  for  the  colony's  use,  and  to  be  stored  as  they 
shall  direct,  until  the  next  colony  convention,  or  general 
assembly;  unless  it  shall  be  necessary,  in  the  meantime,  to 
use  the  same  in  the  defence  of  this  colony.  It  is  agreed,  that 
in  case  the  next  convention  shall  determine  that  any  part  of 


PATRICK     HENRY.  161 

the  said  money  ought  to  be  returned  to  his  majesty's  said 
receiver-general,  that  the  same  shall  be  done  accordingly. 

"  PATRICK  HENRY,  jun. 
"  Test — SAMUEL  MEREDITH, 
PARKE  GOODALL." 

The  march  of  the  marines  from  the  Fowey  had,  however, 
produced  the  most  violent  commotion  both  in  York*  and 

*  "  The  town  of  York  being  somewhat  alarmed  by  a  letter  from 
Captain  Montague,  commander  of  his  majesty's  ship  the  Fowey,  ad 
dressed  to  the  Hon.  Thomas  Nelson,  esquire,  president  of  his  ma 
jesty's  council  in  Virginia;  and  a  copy  of  said  letter  being  procured, 
a  motion  was  made,  that  the  copy  should  be  laid  before  the  committee, 
and  considered.  The  copy  was  read,  and  is  as  follows  : — 

"  £  Fowey,  May  4,  1775. 
«  <  Sir, 

"  'I  have  this  morning  received  certain  information  that  his  excel 
lency  the  Lord  Dunmore,  governor  of  Virginia,  is  threatened  with  an 
attack  at  daybreak  this  morning,  at  his  palace  in  Williamsburg,  and 
have  thought  proper  to  send  a  detachment  from  his  majesty's  ship 
under  my  command  to  support  his  excellency ;  therefore,  strongly  pray 
you  to  make  use  of  every  endeavour  to  prevent  the  party  from  being 
molested  and  attacked,  as  in  that  case  I  must  be  under  the  necessity 
to  fire  upon  this  town.  From  GEORGE  MONTAGUE. 

"  '  To  the  Hon.  Thomas  Nelson.' 

"  The  committee,  together  with  Capt.  Montague's  letter  taking  into 
consideration  the  time  of  its  being  sent,  which  was  too  late  to  permit 
the  president  to  use  his  influence,  had  the  inhabitants  been  disposed 
to  molest  and  attack  the  detachment ;  and  further  considering  that 
Col.  Nelson,  who,  had  this  threat  been  carried  into  execution,  must 
have  been  a  principal  sufferer,  was  at  that  very  moment  exerting  his 
utmost  endeavours  in  behalf  of  government,  and  the  safety  of  his  ex 
cellency's  person,  unanimously  come  to  the  following  resolutions: — 

"  Resolved,  That  Capt.  Montague,  in  threatening  to  fire  upon  a 
defenceless  town,  in  case  of  an  attack  upon  the  detachment,  in  which 
X  14* 


162  WIRT'S     LIFE     OF 

Williamsburg,  Mr.  Henry  himself  seemed  to  apprehend  that 
the  public  treasury  would  be  the  next  object  of  depredation, 
and  that  a  pretext  would  be  sought  for  it  in  the  reprisal 
which  had  just  been  made.  He  therefore  addressed,  from 
Doncastle's,  the  following  letter  to  Robert  Carter  Nicholas, 
esquire,  the  treasurer  of  the  colony : — 

"May  4,  1775. 
"  Sir, 

"  The  affair  of  the  powder  is  now  settled,  so  as  to  produce 
satisfaction  to  me,  and  I  earnestly  wish  to  the  colony  in  gene 
ral.  The  people  here  have  it  in  charge  from  Hanover  com 
mittee,  to  tender  their  service  to  you,  as  a  public  officer,  for 
the  purpose  of  escorting  the  public  treasury  to  any  place  in 
this  colony,  where  the  money  would  be  judged  more  safe 
than  in  the  city  of  Williamsburg.  The  reprisal  now  made 
by  the  Hanover  volunteers,  though  accomplished  in  a  man 
ner  less  liable  to  the  imputation  of  violent  extremity,  may 
possibly  be  the  cause  of  future  injury  to  the  treasury.  If, 
therefore,  you  apprehend  the  least  danger,  a  sufficient  guard 
is  at  your  service.  I  beg  the  return  of  the  bearer  may  be 

said  town  might  not  be  concerned,  has  testified  a  spirit  of  cruelty  un 
precedented  in  the  annals  of  civilized  times ;  that,  in  his  late  notice  to 
the  president,  he  has  added  insult  to  cruelty;  and  that,  considering 
the  circumstances  already  mentioned,  of  one  of  the  most  consideraole 
inhabitants  of  said  town,  he  has  discovered  the  most  hellish  princi 
ples  that  can  actuate  a  human  mind. 

"  Resolved,  That  it  be  recommended  to  the  inhabitants  of  this  town, 
and  to  the  country  in  general,  that  they  do  not  entertain  or  show  any 
other  mark  of  civility  to  Capt.  Montague,  besides  what  common  de 
cency  and  absolute  necessity  require. 

"  Resolved,  That  the  clerk  do  transmit  the  above  proceedings  to 
the  public  printers,  to  be  inserted  in  the  Virginia  gazettes. 
(A  true  copy.) 

"WILLIAM  RUSSELL,  Clk.  Com." 


PATRICK    HENRY.  163 

instant,  because   the  men  wish  to  know  their  destination. 
With  great  regard,  I  am,  sir,  your  most  humble  servant, 

"  PATRICK  HENRY,  jun." 

To  this  letter  an  answer  was  received  from  Mr.  Nicholas, 
importing  that  he  had  no  apprehension  of  the  necessity,  or 
propriety  of  the  proffered  service  :  and  Mr.  Henry  under 
standing,  also,  that  the  private  citizens  of  Williamsburg  were 
in  a  great  measure  quieted  from  their  late  fears  for  their  per 
sons  and  property,  judged  it  proper  to  proceed  no  farther. 
Their  expedition  having  been  crowned  with  success,  the 
volunteers  returned  in  triumph  to  their  respective  homes. 
The  committee  of  Hanover  again  met;  gave  them  their 
warmest  thanks  for  the  vigour  and  propriety  with  which  they 
had  conducted  the  enterprise  ;  and  returned  their  acknow 
ledgments,  in  suitable  terms,  to  the  many  volunteers  of  the 
diiferent  counties,  who  joined  and  were  marching,  and  re*ady 
to  co-operate  with  the  volunteer  company  of  Hanover. 

Two  days  after  the  return  of  the  volunteers,  and  when  all 
was  again  quiet,  the  governor  thundered  the  following  ana 
thema  from  the  palace  : — 

"  By  his  excellency,  the  Right  Hon.  John,  Earl  of  Dun- 
more,  his  majesty's  lieutenant  and  governor-general  of  the 
colony  and  dominion  of  Virginia,  and  vice-admiral  of  the 
same : — 


'  Virginia,  to  wit : — 

"  Whereas,  I  have  been  informed,  from  undoubted  authority, 
that  a  certain  Patrick^  Henry,  of  the  county  of  Hanover, 
and  a  number  of  deluded  followers,  have  taken  up  arms 


164  WIRT'S     LIFE     OF 

chosen  their  officers,  and  styling  themselves  an  Independent 
Company,  have  marched  out  of  their  county,  encamped  and 
put  themselves  in  a  posture  of  war ;  and  have  written  and 
despatched  letters  to  divers  parts  of  the  country,  exciting 
the  people  to  join  in  these  outrageous  and  rebellious  prac 
tices,  to  the  great  terror  of  all  his  majesty's  faithful  subjects, 
and  in  open  defiance  of  law  and  government ;  and  have 
committed  other  acts  of  violence,  particularly  in  extorting 
from  his  majesty's  receiver-general  the  sum  of  three  hundred 
and  thirty  pounds,  under  pretence  of  replacing  the  powder  I 
thought  proper  to  order  from  the  magazine  :  whence  it  unde 
niably  appears,  that  there  is  no  longer  the  least  security  for 
the  life  or  property  of  any  man ;  wherefore  I  have  thought 
proper  with  the  advice  of  his  majesty's  council,  and  in  his 
majesty's  name,  to  issue  this  my  proclamation,  strictly  char 
ging  all  persons  upon  their  allegiance,  not  to  aid,  abet,  or  give 
countenance  to  the  said  Patrick  Henry,  or  any  other  persons 
concerned  in  such  unwarrantable  combinations ;  but,  on  the 
contrary,  to  oppose  them  and  their  designs  by  every  means ; 
which  designs  must  otherwise  inevitably  involve  the  whole 
country  in  the  most  direful  calamity,  as  they  will  call  for  the 
vengeance  of  offended  majesty,  and  the  insulted  laws,  to  be 
exerted  here  to  vindicate  the  constitutional  authority  of  gov 
ernment. 

"  Given  under  my  hand  and  the  seal  of  the  colony,  at 
Williamsburg,  this  6th  day  of  May,  1775,  and  in  the 
15th  year  of  his  majesty's  reign. 

"DUNMORE. 

"  God  save  the  king." 

But  Lord  Dunmore's  threats  and  denunciations  had  no 
other  effect  than  to  render  more  conspicuous  and  more  lion- 


PATRICK     HENRY.  165 

curable  the  man  who  was  the  object  of  them.  Mr.  Henry, 
who  had  been  on  the  point  of  setting  out  for  congress  at  the 
time  when  he  had  been  called  off  by  the  intelligence  from 
Williamsburg,  now  resumed  his  journey,  and  was  escorted 
in  triumph  by  a  large  party  of  gentlemen,  as  far  as  Hooe's 
ferry,  on  the  Potomac.  Messengers  were  sent  after  him 
from  all  directions,  bearing  the  thanks  and  the  applauses  of 
his  assembled  countrymen,  for  his  recent  enterprise  ;  and  in 
such  throngs  did  these  addresses  come,  that  the  necessity  of 
halting  to  read  and  answer  them  converted  a  journey  of  one 
day  into  a  triumph  of  many.  Thus,  the  same  man,  whose 
genius  had  in  the  year  1765  given  the  first  political  impulse 
to  the  revolution,  had  now  the  additional  honour  of  heading 
the  first  military  movement  in  Virginia,  in  support  of  the 
same  cause. 


.       SECTION  VI. 

I  CANNOT  learn  that  Mr.  Henry  distinguished  himself 
peculiarly  at  this  session  of  congress.  The  spirit  of  resistance 
was  sufficiently  excited ;  and  nothing  remained  but  to  organ 
ize  that  resistance,  and  to  plan  and  execute  the  details 
which  were  to  give  it  effect.  In  business  of  this  nature,  Mr. 
Henry,  as  we  have  seen,  was  not  efficient.  It  has  been  al 
ready  stated  that  he  was  unsuccessful  in  composition,  of 
which  much  was  done,  and  eminently  done,  at  this  session ; 
and  the  lax  habits  of  his  early  life  had  implanted  in  him  an 
insuperable  aversion  to  the  drudgery  of  details.  He  could  not 
endure  confinement  of  any  sort,  nor  the  labour  of  close  and 
solitary  thinking.  His  habits  were  all  social,  and  his  mind 
delighted  in  unlimited  range.  His  conclusions  were  never 
reached  by  an  elaborate  deduction  of  thought ;  he  gained 
them  as  it  were  per  saltum ;  yet  with  a  certainty  not  less 
infallible  than  that  of  the  driest  and  severest  logician.  It  is 
not  wonderful,  therefore,  that  he  felt  himself  lost  amid  the 
operations  in  which  congress  was  now  engaged,  and  that 
he  enjoyed  the  relief  which  was  afforded  him,  by  a  military 
appointment  from  his  native  state.  It  will  be  proper,  how 
ever,  to  explain  particularly  the  proceedings  which  led  to 
this  incident  in  the  life  of  Mr.  Henry. 

Shortly  after  the  affair  of  the  gunpowder,  Lord  North's 
conciliatory  proposition,  popularly  called  the  Olive  Branch, 
166 


PATRICK    HENRY.  167 

arrived  in  America.  Hereupon  the  governor  of  Virginia 
called  a  meeting  of  the  house  of  burgesses ;  and  as  if  the 
quarrel  were  now  completely  over,  Lady  Dunmore  and  her 
family  returned  fiom  the  Fowey  to  the  palace.* 

On  Thursday,  the  first  of  June,  the  general  assembly,  ac 
cording  to  the  proclamation  of  Lord  Dunmore,  met  at  the 
capitol  in  the  city  of  Williamsburg.  He  addressed  them 
with  great  earnestness  on  the  alarming  state  of  the  colony ; 
and  exhibited  the  conciliatory  proposition  of  the  British 
ministry,  as  an  advance  on  the  part  of  the  mother-country, 
which  it  was  the  duty  of  the  colonists  to  meet  with  gratitude 

*  If  an  estimate  may  be  formed  from  the  newspapers  of  the  day,  into 
which  the  people  seem  to  have  poured  their  feelings  without  reserve, 
that  lady  was  eminently  a  favourite  in  this  colony.  Her  residence 
here  had  been  short;  yet  the  exalted  virtues  which  marked  her  char 
acter,  and  those  domestic  graces  and  attractions  which  shone  Avith  the 
more  lustre  by  contrast  with  his  lordship,  had  already  endeared  her  to 
the  people ;  and  would  have  consecrated  her  person,  and  those  of  her 
children,  amid  the  wildest  tumult  to  which  this  colony  could  possibly 
be  excited.  The  people  had  been  extremely  wounded  by  her  late  de 
parture  for  the  Fowey :  they  considered  it  as  a  measure  of  his  lord 
ship,  and  as  an  unjust  reflection  both  upon  the  judgment  and  generos 
ity  of  the  people  of  this  country.  They  had  told  him  intelligibly 
enough,  that  they  had  formed  a  much  more  correct  estimate  of  her 
worth  than  he  himself  appeared  to  have  done ;  and  that  so  far  from 
her  being  insecure  in  the  bosom  of  a  people  who  thus  admired,  re 
spected,  and  loved  her,  his  lordship  would  have  acted  much  more 
wisely  to  have  kept  her  near  his  person,  and  covered  himself  under 
the  sacred  shield  which  sanctified  her  in  the  eyes  of  Virginians.  In 
proportion  to  their  regret  and  mortification  at  her  departure,  was  the 
ardour  of  delight  with  which  they  hailed  her  return.  A  paragraph  in 
Purdie's  paper  assured  her,  that  "  her  arrival  at  the  palace  was  to  the 
great  joy  of  the  citizens  of  Williamsburg,  and  of  the  people  of  the 
whole  country,  who  had  the  most  unfeigned  regard  and  affection  for 
her  ladyship,  and  wished  her  long  to  live  amongst  them." 


168  WIRT'S    LIFE   OF 


and  devotion.  The  council  answered  him  in  a  manner  per 
fectly  satisfactory  ;  but  before  he  could  receive  the  answer  of 
the  house  of  burgesses,  an  incident  occurred,  which  drove 
his  lordship  precipitately  from  his  palace,  and  terminated  for 
ever  all  friendly  relations  between  himself  and  the  people  of 
Virginia. 

It  seems,  that  during  the  late  ferment,  produced  by  the 
removal  of  the  powder,  and  while  Mr.  Henry  was  on  his 
march  toward  Williamsburg,  some  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
town,  to  the  great  offence  of  the  graver  citizens,  had  pos 
sessed  themselves  of  a  few  of  the  guns  which  still  remained 
in  the  magazine.  This  step  gave  great  displeasure  as  well 
as  alarm  to  the  governor;  and  although  the  mayor  and 
council,  as  well  as  all  the  more  respectable  inhabitants  of 
the  town,  condemned  it  in  terms  as  strong  as  his  own,  and 
sincerely  united  in  the  means  which  were  used  to  recover 
the  arms,  yet  his  lordship  continued  to  brood  over  it  in  secret, 
until,  with  the  aid  of  the  minions  of  the  palace,  he  hatched  a 
scheme  of  low  and  cruel  revenge,  sufficient  of  itself  to  cover 
him  with  immortal  infamy.  It  was  on  Monday  night,  the 
5th  of  June,  that  this  scheme  discovered  itself.  "  Last 
Monday  night,"  says  Purdie,  "  an  unfortunate  accident  hap 
pened  to  two  persons  of  this  city,  who,  with  a  number  of 
others,  had  assembled  at  the  magazine,  to  furnish  themselves 
with  arms.  Upon  their  entering  the  door,  one  of  the  guns, 
which  had  a  spring  to  it,  and  was  charged  eight  fingers  deep 
with  swan-shot,  went  off,  and  lodged  two  balls  in  one  of  their 
shoulders,  another  entered  at  his  wrist,  and  is  not  yet  extract 
ed  :  the  other  person  had  one  of  his  fingers  shot  off,  and 
the  next  to  it  so  much  shattered  as  to  render  it  useless,  by 
which  sad  misfortune  he  is  deprived  of  the  means  of  procur 
ing  a  livelihood  by  his  business.  Spring-guns,  it  seems,  were 


PATRICK     HENRY.  169 

placed  at  other  parts  of  the  magazine,  of  which  the  public 
were  totally  ignorant;  and  certainly  had  any  person  lost 
his  life,  the  perpetrator  or  perpetrators  of  this  diabolical  in 
vention  might  have  been  justly  branded  with  the  opprobri 
ous  title  of  murderers.  0  tempora !  0  mores  !" 

The  indignation  naturally  excited  by  this  piece  of  delibe 
rate  and  barbarous  treachery,  which  was  at  once  traced  to 
Lord  Dunmore,  was  farther  aggravated  by  a  discovery  that 
several  barrels  of  pow^der  had  been  buried  in  the  magazine, 
\v  th  the  purpose,  it  was  reasonably  conjectured,  of  being 
used  as  a  mine,  and  thus  producing  still  more  fatal  destruc 
tion,  when  the  occasion  should  offer.  Early  on  the  next  morn 
ing,  Lord  Dunmore  with  his  family,  including  Captain  Foy, 
fled  from  the  palace  to  return  to  it  no  more,  and  took  shelter 
on  board  the  Fowey,  from  the  vengeance  which  he  knew 
he  so  justly  deserved.  No  commotion,  however,  had  ensued 
to  justify  his  retreat.  The  people,  indeed,  were  highly  in 
dignant,  but  they  were  silent  and  quiet.  The  suggestions 
of  his  lordship's  conscience  had  alone  produced  his  flight. 
He  left  behind  him  a  message  to  the  speaker  and  house  of 
burgesses,  in  which  he  ascribed  this  movement  to  appre 
hensions  for  his  personal  safety ;  stated  that  he  should  fix 
his  residence  on  board  the  Fowey ;  that  no  interruption 
should  be  given  to  the  sitting  of  the  assembly ;  that  he 
should  make  the  access  to  him  easy  and  safe ;  and  thought 
it  would  be  more  agreeable  to  the  house  to  send  to  him,  from 
time  to  time,  one  or  more  of  their  members,  as  occasion 
might  require,  than  to  put  the  whole  body  to  the  trouble  of 
moving  to  be  near  him. 

On  receiving  this  message,  the  house  immediately  resolved 
itself  into  a  committee  of  the  whole,  and  prepared  an  an 
swer,  in  which  they  expressed  their  deep  concern  at  the  step 
Y  15 


170  WIRT'S    LIFE     OF 

which  he  had  taken — assuring  him  that  his  apprehensions 
of  personal  danger  were  entirely  unfounded ;  regretting  that 
he  had  not  expressed  them  to  the  house  previous  to  his  de 
parture,  since,  from  their  zeal  and  attachment  to  the  preser 
vation  of  order  and  good  government,  they  should  have  judged 
it  their  indispensable  duty  to  have  endeavoured  to  remove 
any  cause  of  disquietude.     They  express  the  anxiety  with 
which  they  contemplate  the  very  disagreeable  situation  of 
his    most  amiable  lady  and  her  family,  and  assure  him,  that 
they  should  think  themselves  happy  in  being  able  to  restore 
their  perfect  tranquillity,  by  removing  all  their  fears.     They 
regret  his  departure  and  the  manner  of  it,  as  tending  to  keep 
up  the  great  uneasiness  which  had  of  late  so  unhappily  pre 
vailed  in  this  country ;  and  declare  that  they  will  cheerfully 
concur  in  any  measure  that  may  be  proposed,  proper  for  the 
security  of  himself  and  his  family;  they  remind  him  how 
impracticable  it  will  be  to  carry  on  the  business  of  the  session 
with  any  tolerable  degree  of  propriety,  or  with  that  despatch 
which  the  advanced  season  of  the  year  required,  whilst  his 
lordship  was  so  far  removed  from  them,  and  so  inconven 
iently  situated ;  and  conclude  with  entreating  him,  that  he 
would  be  pleased   to  return  with  his  lady  and  family  to  the 
palace,   which  they  say,  they  are  persuaded  will  give  the 
greatest  satisfaction,  and  be  the  most  likely  means  of  quiet 
ing  the  minds  of  the  people. 

This  communication  was  carried  down  to  him  by  a  depu 
tation  of  two  members  of  the  council,  and  four  of  the  house 
of  burgesses ;  and  in  reply  to  language  so  respectful,  and  as 
surances  so  friendly  and  conciliatory,  his  lordship  returned 
an  answer  in  which  he  charged  them  with  having  slighted 
his  offers  of  respect  and  civility,  with  giving  countenance  to 
the  violent  and  disorderly  proceedings  of  the  people,  and 


PATRICK     HENRY.  171 

with  a  usurpation  of  the  executive  power  in  ordering  and 
appointing  guards  to  mount  in  the  city  of  William sburg, 
with  the  view,  as  was  pretended,  to  protect  the  magazine, 
but  which  might  well  be  doubted,  as  there  then  remained 
nothing  therein  which  required  being  guarded;  he  exhorts 
them  to  return  within  the  pale  of  their  constitutional  power ; 
to  redress  the  many  grievances  which  existed ;  to  open  the 
courts  of  justice ;  to  disarm  the  independent  companies , 
and  what  was  not  less  essential,  by  their  own  example,  and 
every  means  in  their  power,  to  abolish  the  spirit  of  persecu 
tion  which  pursued,  with  menaces  and  acts  of  oppression,  all 
his  majesty's  loyal  and  orderly  subjects.  For  the  accomplish 
ment  of  which  ends,  he  invited  them  to  adjourn  to  the  town 
of  York,  opposite  to  which  the  Fowey  lay,  where  he  promis 
ed  to  meet  and  remain  with  them  till  their  business  should 
be  finished.  But  with  respect  to  their  entreaty  that  he  would 
return  to  the  palace,  he  represents  to  them  that  unless  they 
closed  in  with  the  conciliatory  proposition  now  offered  to 
them  by  the  British  parliament,  his  return  to  Williamsburg 
wrould  be  as  fruitless  to  the  people,  as  possibly  it  might  be  dan 
gerous  to  himself.  So  that  he  places  the  event  of  his  return 
ing,  on  their  acceptance  of  Lord  North's  offer  of  concili 
ation. 

The  house  of  burgesses  now  took  up  that  proposition ;  and 
having  examined  it  in  every  light,  with  the  utmost  attention, 
they  conclude  with  a  firm  and  dignified  rejection  of  it,  and 
an  appeal  "to  the  even-handed  justice  of  that  Being  who 
doth  no  wrong ;  earnestly  beseeching  him  to  illuminate  the 
councils,  and  prosper  the  endeavours,  of  those  to  whom 
America  had  confided  her  hopes,  that,  through  their  wise 
direction,  we  may  again  see  reunited  the  blessings  of  liberty 


172  WIRT'S  LIFE  OF 

and  prosperity,  and  the  most  permanent  harmony  with  Great 
Britain."* 

A  correspondence  on  another  topic  was  now  opened  be 
tween  the  council  and  burgesses,  and  the  governor,  Dunmore 
The  former  addressed  him  with  a  request,  that  he  would 
order  a  large  parcel  of  arms  which  he  had  left  in  the  palace 
to  be  removed  to  the  public  magazine,  a  place  of  greater 
safety.  This  he  peremptorily  refused ;  and  ordered  that  those 
arms,  belonging  to  the  king,  should  not  be  touched  without 
his  express  permission.  In  their  reply,  they  say,  that  the  arms 
may  in  some  sort  be  considered  as  belonging  to  the  king, 
as  the  supreme  head  of  the  government,  and  that  they  were 
properly  under  his  lordship's  direction;  yet,  they  humbly 
conceived,  that  they  were  originally  provided,  and  had  been 
preserved  for  the  use  of  the  country  in  cases  of  emergency. 
The  palace,  they  say,  had  indeed  been  hitherto  much  re 
spected,  but  not  so  much  out  of  regard  to  the  building,  as  the 
lesidence  of  his  majesty's  representative.  Had  his  lordship 
thought  fit  to  remain  there,  they  would  have  had  no  appre 
hensions  of  danger ;  but  considering  these  arms  at  present  as 
exposed  to  his  lordship's  servants,  and  every  rude  invader, 
the  security  derived  from  his  lordship's  presence  could  not 
now  be  relied  on.  They,  therefore,  again  entreat  him  to 
order  the  removal  of  the  arms  to  the  magazine.  They  then 
proceed  to  state,  that  they  cannot  decline  representing  to 
him,  that  the  important  business  of  the  assembly  had  been 

much  impeded  by  his  excellency's  removal  from  the  palace 

that  this  step  had  deprived  them  of  that  free  and  necessary 

*  This  vigorous  and  eloquent  production  is  from  the  same  pen  which 
drew  the  declaration  of  American  Independence. 


PATRICK     HENRY.  173 

access  to  his  lordship,  to  which  they  were  entitled  by  the  con 
stitution  of  the  country — that  there  were  several  bills  of  the 
last  importance  to  the  country,  now  ready  to  be  presented  to 
his  excellency  for  his  assent.  They  complain  of  the  incon 
venience  to  which  they  had  been  put  in  sending  their  mem 
bers  twelve  miles  to  wait  on  his  excellency,  on  board  of  one 
of  his  majesty's  ships  of  war,  to  present  their  addresses — they 
state  that  they  think  it  would  be  highly  improper,  and  too 
great  a  departure  from  the  constitutional  and  accustomed 
mode  of  transacting  business,  to  meet  his  excellency  at  any 
other  place  than  the  capitol,  to  present  such  bills  as  were 
ready  for  his  signature — and,  therefore,  beseech  him  to  return 
for  this  purpose. 

To  all  this  he  gave  a  very  short  answer;  that,  as  to  the 
arms,  he  had  already  declared  his  intention,  and  conceived 
they  were  meddling  with  a  subject  which  did  not  belong  to 
them  ;  he  desired  to  know  whom  they  designed  by  the  term 
rude  invad&r ;  that  the  disorders  in  Williamsburg  and  other 
parts  of  the  country,  had  driven  him  from  the  palace ;  and 
that,  if  any  inconvenience  had  arisen  to  the  assembly  on  that 
account,  he  was  not  chargeable  with  it ;  that  they  had  not 
been  deprived  of  any  necessary  or  free  access  to  him ;  that 
the  constitution  undoubtedly  vested  him  with  the  power  of 
calling  the  assembly  to  any  place  in  the  colony,  which  ex 
igency  might  require  ;  that  not  having  been  made  acquainted 
with  the  whole  proceedings  of  the  assembly,  he  knew  of  no 
bills  of  importance,  which,  if  he  were  inclined  to  risk  his 
person  again  among  the  people,  the  assembly  had  to  present 
to  him,  nor  whether  they  were  such  as  he  could  assent  to. 

In  the  course  of  their  correspondence  he   required  the 
house  to  attend  him  on  board  the  Fowey,  for  the  purpose  of 

15* 


174  WIRT'S    LIFE     OF 

obtaining  his  signature  to  the  bills ;  and  some  of  the  mem 
bers  to  prevent  an  actual  dissolution  of  the  government,  and 
to  give  effect  to  the  many  necessary  bills  which  they  had 
passed,  proposed  to  yield  to  this  extraordinary  requisition. 
The  project,  however,  was  exploded  by  a  member's  rising 
in  his  place,  and  relating  the  fable  of  the  sick  lion  and  the 
fox. 

The  governor  having  thus  virtually  abdicated  his  office, 
the  government  was,  in  effect,  dissolved.  The  house  here 
upon  resolved,  "  That  his  Lordship's  message,  requiring  the 
house  to  attend  him  on  board  one  of  his  majesty's  ships  of 
war,  is  a  high  breach  of  the  rights  and  privileges  of  this 
house." — "  That  the  unreasonable  delays  thrown  into  the 
proceedings  of  this  house  by  the  governor,  and  his  evasive 
answers  to  the  sincere  and  decent  addresses  of  the  represent 
atives  of  the  people,  give  us  great  reason  to  fear,  that  a  dan 
gerous  attack  may  be  meditated  against  the  unhappy  people 
of  this  colony." — "  It  is,  therefore,  our  opinion,  they  say,  that 
they  prepare  for  the  preservation  of  their  property,  and  their 
inestimable  rights  and  liberties  with  the  greatest  care  and  at 
tention." — "  That  we  do  and  will  bear  faith  and  true  alle 
giance  to  our  most  gracious  sovereign,  George  III.,  our 
only  lawful  and  rightful  king :  that  we  will,  at  all  times,  to 
the  utmost  of  our  power,  and  at  the  risk  of  our  lives  and 
properties,  maintain  and  defend  his  government  in  this  colony, 
as  founded  on  the  established  laws  and  principles  of  the 
constitution :  that  it  is  our  most  earnest  desire  to  preserve 
and  strengthen  those  bonds  of  amity,  with  all  our  fellow- 
subjects  in  Great  Britain,  which  are  so  very  essential  to  the 
prosperity  and  happiness  of  both  countries."  Having  adopt 
ed  these  resolutions  without  a  dissenting  voice,  they  adjourn- 


PATRICK    HENRY.  175 

ed  themselves  to  the  12th  of  October  following;  and  the 
delegates  were  summoned  to  meet  in  convention  at  the  town 
of  Richmond,  on  the  17th  of  July.* 

Immediately  on  the  adjournment  of  the  house  of  burgesses, 
a  very  full  meeting  of  the  citizens  of  Williamsburg  convened, 
on  the  call  of  Peyton  Randolph,  at  the  court-house  in  that 
city,  "  to  consider  of  the  expediency  of  stationing  a  number 
of  men  there  for  the  public  safety ;  as  well  to  assist  the  citi 
zens  in  their  nightly  watches,  as  to  guard  against  any  sur 
prise  from  our  enemies ;  whereupon  it  was  unanimously 
agreed  (until  the  general  convention  should  meet)  to  invite 
down  from  a  number  of  counties,  to  the  amount  of  two  hun 
dred  and  fifty  men.  Meanwhile,  until  they  arrived,  the 
neighbouring  counties,  they  say,  were  kind  enough  to  lend 
them  their  assistance. 

On  the  29th  of  Jane,  the  Fowey  ship,  and  Magdalen 
schooner,  sailed  from  York ;  on  board  the  latter  went  Lady 
Dunmore,  and  the  rest  of  the  governor's  family,  bound  for 
England ;  and  the  colony  was  for  a  short  time  relieved  by 
the  report  that  the  Fowey  carried  Lord  Dunmore  and  Cap 
tain  Foy  on  a  visit  to  General  Gage,  at  Boston.  This  re 
port,  however,  was  unfounded.  The  Fowey  merely  escorted 
the  Magdalen  to  the  Capes,  and  then  returned  again  to  her 
moorings,  before  York.  The  Otter  sloop  of  war,  commanded 
by  Captain  Squire,  thereupon  fell  down  to  the  mouth  of  York 

*  On  this  occasion,  Richard  H.  Lee,  standing  with  two  of  the  bur 
gesses  in  the  porch  of  the  capitol,  inscribed  with  his  pencil  on  a  pillai 
of  the  capitol,  these  prophetic  lines,  from  Shakspeare : — 
"  When  shall  we  three  meet  again  ? 
In  thunder,  lightning,  and  in  rain ; 
When  the  hurly-burly's  done, 
When  the  battle's  lost  and  won." 


176  WIRTSLIFEOF 

river,  with  the  intention  of  cruising  along  the  coast,  and  seiz 
ing  all  provision  vessels ;  and  soon  became  distinguished  at 
least  for  the  malignity  of  her  attempts.  The  Fowey  was 
relieved  by  the  ship  Mercury,  of  24  guns,  John  Macartney 
commander,  and  departed  for  Boston,  carrying  with  her  the 
now  obnoxious  Captain  Foy.  The  governor's  domestics  left 
the  palace,  and  removed  to  his  farm  at  Montibello,  about  six 
miles  below  Williamsburg ;  and  the  governor  himself  fixed 
his  station  at  the  town  of  Portsmcuth.  In  this  posture  of 
things,  on  Monday,  the  24th  of  July,  1775,  the  colonial  con 
vention  met  at  the  city  of  Richmond. 

The  proceedings  of  this  convention  were  marked  by  a 
character  of  great  decision  and  vigour.  One  of  their  first 
measures  was  an  ordinance  for  raising  and  imbodying  a 
sufficient  force  for  the  defence  and  protection  of  the  colony. 
By  this  ordinance  it  was  provided,  that  two  regiments  of 
regulars,  to  consist  of  one  thousand  and  twenty  privates,  rank 
and  file,  should  be  forthwith  raised  and  taken  into  the  pay 
of  the  colony ;  and  a  competent  regular  force  was  also  pro 
vided  for  the  protection  of  the  western  frontier.  The  whole 
colony  was  divided  into  sixteen  military  districts ;  with  a 
provision,  that  a  regiment  of  six  hundred  and  eighty  men, 
rank  and  file,  should  be  raised  on  the  eastern  shore  district, 
and  a  battalion  of  five  hundred  in  each  of  the  others ;  to  be 
forthwith  armed,  trained,  furnished  with  all  military  accou 
trements,  and  ready  to  march  at  a  minute's  warning. 

A  committee,  called  the  committee  of  safety,  was  also 
organized,  with  functions  and  powers  analogous  to  those  of 
the  executive  department,  and  apparently  designed  to  supply 
the  vacancy  occasioned  by  the  governor's  abdication  of  that 
branch  of  the  government. 

The  convention   now  proceeded  to  the  appointment  of 


PATRICK     HENRY.  177 

officers  to  command  the  regular  forces.  The  lofty  stand 
which  Mr.  Henry  had  taken  in  the  American  cause,  his  in 
creasing  popularity,  and  the  prompt  and  energetic  movement 
which  he  had  made  in  the  affair  of  the  gunpowder,  brought 
him  strongly  before  the  view  of  the  house  ;  and  he  was  elect 
ed  the  colonel  of  the  first  regiment,  and  the  commander  of 
all  the  forces  raised,  and  to  be  raised,  for  the  defence  of 
the  colony.  Mr.  William  Woodford,  who  is  said  to  have 
distinguished  himself  in  the  French  and  Indian  war,  was 
appointed  to  the  command  of  the  second  regiment. 

The  place  of  rendezvous  for  the  troops  was  the  city  of 
Williamsburg.  Mr.  Henry  was  at  his  post  on  the  20th  of 
September,  examining  the  grounds  adjacent  to  the  city,  for 
the  purpose  of  selecting  an  encampment;  and  the  place 
chosen  was  at  the  back  of  William  and  Mary  college.  The 
troops  were  recruited  and  poured  in  with  wonderful  rapidity. 
The  papers  of  the  day  teem  with  the  annunciation  of  com 
pany  after  company)  both  regulars  and  minute-men,  with 
the  highest  encomiums  on  the  appearance  and  spirit  of  the 
troops ;  and  had  the  purpose  been  offensive  war,  Col.  Henry 
was  soon  in  a  situation  to  have  annihilated  any  force  that 
Lord  Dunmore  could  at  that  time  have  arrayed  against 
him.  But  there  was,  in  truth,  something  extremely  singular 
and  embarrassing  in  the  situation  of  the  parties  in  regard  to 
each  other.  It  was  not  war,  nor  was  it  peace.  The  very 
ordinance  by  which  these  troops  were  raised,  was  filled  with 
professions  of  allegiance  and  fidelity  to  George  III. — pro 
fessions,  whose  sincerity  there  is  the  less  reason  to  doubt,  be 
cause  they  are  confined  to  the  exercise  of  his  constitutional 
powers,  and  stand  connected  with  an  expression  of  their  firm 
determination  to  resist  any  attempt  on  the  liberties  of  the 
country.  The  only  intelligible  purpose,  therefore,  for  which 


178  WIRT'S    LIFE     OF 


these  troops  were  raised,  was  a  preparation  for  defence  ;  and 
for  defence  against  an  attempt  to  enforce  the  parliamentary 
taxes  upon  this  colony.  With  respect  to  Lord  Dunmore,  he 
was  indeed  considered  as  having  abandoned  the  duties  of  his 
office  :  yet  still  he  was  regarded  as  the  governor  of  Virginia ; 
and  there  seems  to  have  been  no  disposition  to  offer  violence 
to  his  person. 

Dunmore,  on  his  part,  considered  the  colony  as  in  a  state 
of  open  and  general  rebellion  ;  not  merely  designing  to  resist 
an  attempt  to  enforce  upon  them  an  obnoxious  tax,  but  to 
subvert  the  regal  government  wholly  and  entirely;  and  had  his 
power  been  equal  to  his  wishes,  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt 
that  he  would  have  disarmed  the  colony,  and  hung  up  with 
out  ceremony,  the  leaders  of  this  traitorous  revolt,  as  he  af 
fected  to  consider  it.  His  impotence,  however,  and  the  aver 
sion  of  the  colonists  to  act  otherwise  than  defensively,  pro 
duced  a  suspense  full  of  the  most  painful  anxiety. 

In  the  meantime,  Capt.  Squire,  commander  of  his  ma 
jesty's  sloop  the  Otter,  had  been  labouring  throughout  the 
summer  with  some  success,  to  change  the  defensive  attitude 
of  the  colony.  He  was  engaged  in  cruising  continually  in 
James  and  York  rivers,  plundering  the  defenceless  shores, 
and  carrying  off  the  slaves,  wherever  seduction  or  force  could 
place  them  in  his  power.  These  piratical  excursions  had 
wrought  up  the  citizens  who  were  not  in  arms  to  a  very 
high  pitch  of  resentment ;  and  an  accident  soon  gave  them 
an  opportunity  of  partial  reprisal,  which  they  did  not  fail  to 
seize.  On  the  2d  of  September,  the  captain,  sailing  in  a 
tender,  on  a  marauding  expedition  from  James  to  York  river, 
was  encountered  by  a  violent  tempest,  and  his  tender  was 
driven  on  shore,  upon  Back  river,  near  Hampton.  It  was 
night,  and  the  storm  still  raging : — the  captain  and  his  men. 


PATRICK    HENRY  179 

distrusting  (unjustly,  as  it  would  seem  from  the  papers)  the 
hospitality  of  the  inhabitants,  made  their  escape  through  the 
woods ;  the  vessel  was  on  the  next  day  discovered  and  burnt 
by  the  people  of  the  neighbourhood.  In  consequence  of  this 
act,  the  captain  addressed  the  following  letter  to  the  commit 
tee  of  the  town  of  Hampton  : — 

"  Otter  sloop,  Norfolk  river,  Sept.  10,  1775. 
"  Gentlemen. 

"  Whereas,  a  sloop  tender,  manned  and  armed  in  his  ma 
jesty's  service,  was,  on  Saturday  the  2d  instant,  in  a  violent 
gale  of  wind,  cast  on  shore  in  Back  river,  Elizabeth  county, 
having  on  board  the  under-mentioned  king's  stores,  which 
the  inhabitants  of  Hampton  thought  proper  to  seize :  I  am 
therefore  to  desire,  that  the  king's  sloop,  with  all  the  stores 
belonging  to  her,  be  immediately  returned ;  or  the  people  of 
Hampton,  who  committed  the  outrage,  must  be  answerable 
for  the  consequences. 

"  I  am,  gentlemen,  your  humble  servant, 

"MATTHEW  SQUIRE." 

This  letter,  with  a  catalogue  of  the  stores,  having  been 
communicated  to  the  committee  of  Williamsburg,  and  by 
them  having  been  laid  before  the  commanding  officer  of  the 
volunteers  of  that  place,  Major  James  Innes,  at  the  head  of  a 
hundred  men,  who  courted  the  enterprise,  flew  to  Hampton 
to  repel  the  threatened  invasion.  Squire,  however,  satisfied 
himself  for  the  present,  by  falling  down  to  Hampton  road, 
where  he  seized  the  passage  boats,  with  the  negroes  in  them, 
by  way  of  reprisal,  as  he  alleged,  for  the  stores,  &c.,  taken 
out  of  his  tender  when  driven  ashore  in  the  late  storm ; 
"  which  boats  and  negroes,"  adds  Purdie's  paper  of  the  day 


180  WIRT'S    LIFE     OF 

"  it  is  likely  he  intends  taking  into  the  king's  service,  to  send 
out  a  pirating  for  hogs,  fowls,  &c.  A  very  pretty  occupation 
for  the  captain  of  one  of  his  majesty's  ships  of  war."  The 
next  paper  announces  the  movements  of  Squire  by  a  para 
graph,  which  I  extract  verbatim,  as  showing  in  an  amusing 
light,  the  spirit  of  the  times,  and  as  Camden  says,  "  the  plain 
and  jolly  mirth  of  our  ancestors,"  even  in  the  midst  of  mis 
fortunes  : — "  We  hear  that  the  renowned  Captain  Squire,  of 
his  majesty's  sloop  Otter,  is  gone  up  the  bay  for  Baltimore  in 
Maryland;  on  his  old  trade,  it  is  to  be  presumed,  of  negro- 
catching,  pillaging  the  farms  and  plantations  of  their  stock 
and  poultry,  and  other  illustrious  actions,  highly  becoming 
a  Squire  in  the  king's  navy.  Some  say,  his  errand  was  to 
watch  for  a  quantity  of  gunpowder  intended  for  this  colony  ; 
but  that  valuable  is  now  safely  landed  where  he  dare  not 
come  to  smell  it." 

The  same  paper  contains  the  following  answer  from  the 
committee  of  Hampton  to  Squire's  letter : — 

"To  Matthew  Squire,  Esq.,  commander  of  his  majesty's 
sloop  Otter,  lying  in  Hampton  roads. 

"Hampton,  September  16,  1775. 
"Sir, 

"Yours  of  the  10th  instant,  directed  to  the  committee  of 
the  town  of  Hampton,  reciting,  that  a  sloop  tender  on  his 
majesty's  service  was,  on  the  2d  instant,  cast  on  shore  near 
this  place,  having  on  board  some  of  the  king's  stores,  which 
you  say  were  seized  by  the  inhabitants,  and  demanding  an 
immediate  return  of  the  same,  or  that  the  people  of  Hamp 
ton  must  answer  the  consequences  of  such  outrage,  was  this 


PATRICK    HENRY.  181 

day  laid  before  them,  who  knowing  the  above  recital  to  be 
injurious  and  untrue,  think  proper  here  to  mention  the  facts 
relative  to  this  matter.  The  sloop,  we  apprehend,  was  not 
in  his  majesty's  service,  as  we  are  well  assured  that  you  were 
on  a  pillaging  or  pleasuring  party ;  and  although  it  gives  us 
pain  to  use  indelicate  expressions,  yet  the  treatment  received 
from  you  calls  for  a  state  of  facts,  in  the  simple  language 
of  truth,  however  harsh  it  may  sound.  To  your  own  heart 
we  appeal  for  the  candour  with  which  we  have  stated  them 
— to  that  heart  which  drove  you  into  the  woods  in  the  most 
tempestuous  weather,  in  one  of  the  darkest  nights,  to  avoid 
the  much  injured  and  innocent  inhabitants  of  this  county, 
who  had  never  threatened  or  ill  used  you — and  who  would 
at  that  time  have  received  you,  we  are  assured,  with  human 
ity  and  civility,  had  you  made  yourself  and  situation  known 
to  them.  Neither  the  vessel  nor  stores  were  seized  by 
the  inhabitants  of  Hampton ;  the  gunner,  one  Mr.  Gray — 
and  the  pilot,  one  Mr.  Ruth — who  were  employed  by  you 
on  this  party,  are  men,  we  hope,  who  will  still  assert  the 
truth.  From  them,  divers  of  our  members  were  informed  that 
the  vessel  and  stores,  together  with  a  good  seine,  (which  you, 
without  cause,  so  hastily  deserted,)  were  given  up  as  irrecov 
erably  lost,  by  the  officers,  and  some  of  the  proprietors,  to 
one  Finn,  near  whose  house  you  were  driven  on  shore,  as 
a  reward  for  his  entertaining  you,  &c.,  with  respect  and 
decency. 

"  The  threats  of  a  person  whose  conduct  hath  evinced 
that  he  was  not  only  capable,  but  desirous  of  doing  us,  in 
our  then  defenceless  state,  the  greatest  injustice,  we  confess, 
were  somewhat  alarming;  but  with  the  greatest  pleasure 
we  can  inform  you,  our  apprehensions  are  now  removed. 

"  Although  we  know  that  we  cannot  legally  be  called  to 

16 


182  WIRT'S    LIFE    OF 

account  for  that  which  you  are  pleased  to  style  an  outrage, 
and  notwithstanding  we  have  hitherto,  by  you,  been  treated 
with  iniquity,  we  will,  as  far  as  in  our  power  lies,  do  you 
right  upon  just  and  equitable  terms. 

"  First.  We,  on  behalf  of  the  community,  require  from 
you  the  restitution  of  a  certain  Joseph  Harris,  the  property 
of  a  gentleman  of  our  town,  and  all  other  our  slaves  whom 
you  may  have  on  board ;  which  said  Harris,  as  well  as  other 
slaves,  hath  been  long  harboured,  and  often  employed,  with 
your  knowledge,  (as  appeared  to  us  by  the  confession  of 
Ruth  and  others,  and  is  well  known  to  all  your  men,)  in 
pillaging  us,  under  cover  of  night,  of  our  sheep  and  other 
live  stock. 

"  Secondly.  We  require  that  you  will  send  on  shore  all 
boats,  with  their  hands,  and  every  other  thing  you  have 
detained  on  this  occasion. 

"  And  lastly.  That  you  shall  not,  by  your  own  arbitrary 
authority,  undertake  to  insult,  molest,  interrupt,  or  detain, 
the  persons  or  property  of  any  one  passing  to  and  from  this 
town,  as  you  have  frequently  done  for  some  time  past. 

"  Upon  complying  with  those  requisitions,  we  will  endeav 
our  to  procure  every  article  left  on  our  shore,  and  shall  be 
ready  to  deliver  them  to  your  pilot  and  gunner,  of  whose 
good  behaviour  we  have  had  some  proofs. 

We  are,  &c. 

"  The  Committee  of  Elizabeth  City  county, 
and  town  of  Hampton? 

In  the  meantime,  Squire's  threat  against  Hampton  was 
not  an  empty  one,  as  is  proven  by  the  following  account  of 
the  attempt  to  execute  it  the  article  is  extracted  from  a  sup 
plement  to  Purdie's  paper  of  October  27th,  1775  : — 


PATRICK    HENRY.  183 

"  After  Lord  Dunmore,  with  his  troops  and  the  navy,  had 
been  for  several  weeks  seizing  the  persons  and  property  of  his 
majesty's  peaceable  subjects  in  this  colony — On  Wednesday 
night  last,  a  party  from  an  armed  tender  landed  near  Hamp 
ton,  and  took  away  a  valuable  negro  slave  and  a  sail  from 
the  owner.  Next  morning  there  appeared  off  the  mouth  of 
Hampton  river,  a  large  armed  schooner,  a  sloop,  and  three 
tenders,  with  soldiers  on  board,  and  a  message  was  received 
at  Hampton  from  Captain  Squire,  on  board  the  schooner, 
that  he  would  that  day  land  and  burn  the  town ;  on  which 
a  company  of  regulars,  and  a  company  of  minute-men,*  who 
had  been  placed  there  in  consequence  of  former  threats  de 
nounced  against  that  place,  made  the  best  disposition  to  pre 
vent  their  landing,  aided  by  a  body  of  militia  who  were  sud 
denly  called  together  on  the  occasion.  The  enemy  accord 
ingly  attempted  to  land,  but  were  retarded  by  some  boats 
sunk  across  the  channel  for  that  purpose.  Upon  this  they 
fired  several  small  cannon  at  the  provincials  without  any 
effect,  who  in  return  discharged  their  small  arms  so  effect 
ually,  as  to  make  the  enemy  move  off,  with  the  loss  oi 
several  men,  as  it  is  believed.  But  they  had,  in  the  mean 
time  burnt  down  a  house  belonging  to  Mr.  Cooper,  on  the 
river.  On  intelligence  of  this  reaching  Williamsburg,  about 
nine  o'clock  at  night,  a  company  of  riflemen  was  despatched 
to  the  aid  of  Hampton,  and  the  colonel  of  the  2d  regiment 
sent  to  take  the  command  of  the  whole ;  who  with  the 

*  Captain  George  Nicholas  commanded  the  regulars,  and  Captain 
Lyne  the  minute-men  j  Captain  Nicholas,  therefore,  as  being  in  the 
regular  service,  had  the  command  of  the  whole  in  the  first  skirmish. 
This  gentleman  was  the  eldest  son  of  Colonel  Robert  C.  Nicholas , 
and  on  the  return  of  peace  became  highly  distinguished  both  as  a 
politician  and  lawyer. 


184  WIRTSLIFEOF 

company,  arrived  about  eight  o'clock  next  morning.  The 
enemy  had  in  the  night  cut  through  the  boats  sunk,  and 
made  a  passage  for  their  vessels,  which  were  drawn  close  up 
to  the  town,  and  began  to  fire  upon  it  soon  after  the  arrival  of 
the  party  from  William sburg ;  but  as  soon  as  our  men 
were  so  disposed  as  to  give  them  a  few  shot,  they  went  off 
so  hastily  that  our  people  took  a  small  tender,  with  five  white 
men,  a  woman,  and  two  slaves,  six  swivels,  seven  muskets, 
some  small  arms,  a  sword,  pistols,  and  other  things,  and  sev 
eral  papers  belonging  to  Lieutenant  Wright,  who  made  his 
escape  by  jumping  overboard  and  swimming  away  with 
Mr.  King's  man,  who  are  on*  shore,  and  a  pursuit  it  is  hoped 
may  overtake  them.  There  were  two  of  the  men  in  the 
vessel  mortally  wounded ;  one  is  since  dead,  and  the  other 
near  his  end.  Besides  which,  we  are  informed,  nine  were 
seen  to  be  thrown  overboard  from  one  of  the  vessels.  We 
have  not  a  man  even  wounded.  The  vessels  went  over  to 
Norfolk,  and  we  are  informed  the  whole  force  from  thence  is 
intended  to  visit  Hampton  this  day.  If  they  should,  we  hope 
our  brave  troops  are  prepared  for  them ;  as  we  can  with 
pleasure  assure  the  public,  that  every  part  of  them  behav 
ed  with  spirit  and  bravery,  and  are  wishing  for  another 
skirmish." 

The  next  paper  contains  the  following  card  to  Captain 
Squire,  which  is  inserted  merely  as  another  specimen  of  the 
character  of  the  times : — 

Williamsburg,  November  3d. 

"  The  riflemen  and  soldiers  of  Hampton  desire  their  com 
pliments  to  Captain  Squire  and  his  squadron,  and  wish  to 
know  how  they  approve  the  reception  they  met  last  Friday. 
Should  he  incline  to  renew  his  visit,  they  will  be  glad  to  see 


PATRICK     HENRY.  185 

him ;  otherwise,  in  point  of  complaisance,  they  will  be  under 
the  necessity  of  returning  the  visit.  If  he  cannot  find  the 
ear  that  was  cut  off,  they  hope  he  will  wear  a  wig  to  hide 
the  mark;  for  perhaps  it  may  net  be  necessary  that  all 
should  know  chance  had  effected  that  which  the  laws  ought 
to  have  done." 

In  the  meantime,  Lord  Dunmore,  with  a  motley  band  of 
tones,  negroes,  and  recruits  from  St.  Augustine's,  was  "  cut 
ting  such  fantastic  capers"  in  the  country  round  about  Nor 
folk,  as  made  it  necessary  to  crush  him  or  drive  him  from  the 
state.  With  this  view,  the  committee  of  safety  (who,  by  their 
constitution,  were  authorized  to  direct  all  military  movements) 
detached  Colonel  Woodford,  at  the  head  of  about  eight 
hundred  men  to  cross  James  river  at  Sandy  Point,  and  go  in 
pursuit  of  his  lordship.  Colonel  Henry  himself  had  been  anx 
ious  for  this  service,  and  is  said  to  have  solicited  it  in  vain. 
But  the  committee  of  safety*  seem  to  have  distrusted  too 
much  his  want  of  military  experience,  to  confide  to  him  so 
important  an  enterprise.  The  disgust  which  Mr.  Henry  had 

*  The  committee  of  safety  was  composed  of  the  following  gentle 
men  : — Edmund  Pendleton,  George  Mason,  Hon.  John  Page,  Richard 
Bland,  Thomas  Ludwell  Lee,  Paul  Carrington,  Dudley  Digges,  Wil 
liam  Cabell,  Carter  Braxton,  James  Mercer,  and  John  Tabb,  esquires. 

The  clause  of  the  ordinance  of  convention  which  authorized  this 
committee  to  direct  all  military  movements,  is  the  following: — 

"And  whereas  it  may  be  necessary  for  the  public  security,  that  the 
forces  to  be  raised  by  virtue  of  this  ordinance  should,  as  occasion  may 
require,  be  marched  to  different  parts  of  the  colony,  and  that  the  offi 
cers  should  be  subject  to  a  proper  control,  Be  it  ordained  by  the  au 
thority  aforesaid,  That  the  officers  and  soldiers  under  such  command 
shall  in  all  things,  not  otherwise  particularly  provided  for  by  this  ordi 
nance,  and  the  articles  established  for  their  regulation,  be  under  the 
control,  and  subject  to  the  order  of  the  general  committee  of  safety." 
2  A  16* 


186  WIRT's    LIFE    OF 

conceived  at  the  palpable  reflection  on  his  military  capacity, 
was  increased  by  Colonel  Woodford's  refusal  to  acknowledge 
his  superiority  in  command.  This  gentleman,  after  his  de 
parture  from  Williamsburg,  on  the  expedition  against  Dun- 
more,  considered  himself  as  no  longer  under  Mr.  Henry's 
authority ;  and  consequently  addressed  all  his  communica 
tions  to  the  convention  when  in  session,  and  when  not  so, 
to  the  committee  of  safety.  On  the  6th  December,  1775, 
Mr.  Henry  sent  an  express  to  Col.  Woodford,  with  the  fol 
lowing  letter :  — 

"  On  Virginia  service. 

"  To  William  Woodford,  Esq.,  colonel  of  the  second  regi 
ment  of  the  Virginia  forces. 

"  Headquarters,  Dec.  6,  1775. 
"  Sir, 

"  Not  hearing  of  any  despatch  from  you  for  a  long  time, 
I  can  no  longer  forbear  sending  to  know  your  situation,  and 
what  has  occurred.  Every  one,  as  well  as  myself,  is  vastly 
anxious  to  hear  how  all  stands  with  you.  In  case  you  think 
any  thing  could  be  done  to  aid  and  forward  the  enterprise 
you  have  in  hand,  please  to  write  it.  But  I  wish  to  know 
your  situation,  particularly  with  that  of  the  enemy,  that  the 
whole  may  be  laid  before  the  convention  now  here.  The 
number  and  designs  of  the  enemy,  as  you  have  collected  it, 
might  open  some  prospects  to  us,  that  might  enable  us  to 
form  some  diversion  in  your  favour.  The  bearer  has  orders 
to  lose  no  time,  and  return  with  all  possible  haste.  I  am, 
sir,  your  most  humble  servant, 

"  P.  HENRY,  jun. 

"  P.  S.  Captain  Alexander's  company  is  not  yet  come. 
"  Col.  WOODFORD." 


PATRICK     HENRY.  187 

To  this  letter,  on  the  next  day,  he  received  the  following 
answer  from  Col.  Woodford : — 

"  Great  Bridge,  7th  Dec.,  1775. 

"  Sir, 

"  I  have  received  yours  per  express ;  in  answer  to  which 
must  inform  you,  that,  understanding  you  were  out  of  town, 
I  have  not  written  you  before  last  Monday,  by  the  return  of 
the  honourable  the  convention's  express,  when  I  referred  you 
to  my  letter  to  them  for  every  particular  respecting  mine 
and  the  enemy's  situation.  I  wrote  them  again  yesterday 
and  this  morning,  which  no  doubt  they  will  communicate  to 
you,  as  commanding  officer  of  the  troops  at  Williamsburg. 
When  joined,  I  shall  always  esteem  myself  immediately  un 
der  your  command,  and  will  obey  accordingly;  but  when 
sent  to  command  a  separate  and  distinct  body  of  troops,  under 
the  immediate  instructions  of  the  committee  of  safety — when 
ever  that  body  or  the  honourable  convention  is  sitting,  I  look 
upon  it  as  my  indispensable  duty  to  address  my  intelligence 
to  them,  as  the  supreme  power  in  this  colony.  If  I  judge 
wrong,  I  hope  that  honourable  body  will  set  me  right.  I  would 
wish  to  keep  up  the  greatest  harmony  between  us,  for  the 
good  of  the  cause  we  are  engaged  in ;  but  cannot  bear  to  be 
supposed  to  have  neglected  my  duty*  when  I  have  done 
every  thing  I  conceived  to  be  so.  The  enemy  are  strongly 
fortified  on  the  other  side  the  bridge,  and  a  great  number  of 
negroes  and  tories  with  them  ;  my  prisoners  disagree  as  to 
the  numbers.  We  are  situate  here  in  mud  and  mire,  expos 
ed  to  every  hardship  that  can  be  conceived,  but  the  want  of 
provisions,  of  which  our  stock  is  but  small,  the  men  suffer 
ing  for  shoes ;  and  if  ever  soldiers  deserved  a  second  blanket 
in  any  service,  they  do'  in  this ;  our  stock  of  ammunition 


188  WIRT'S    LIFE     OF 

much  reduced,  no  bullet-moulds  that  were  good  for  any 
thing  sent  to  run  up  our  lead,  till  those  sent  the  other 
day  by  Mr.  Page.  If  these  necessaries  and  better  arms  had 
been  furnished  in  time  for  this  detachment,  they  might  have 
prevented  much  trouble  and  great  expense  to  this  colony. 
Most  of  those  arms  I  received  the  other  day  from  Williams- 
burg  are  rather  to  be  considered  as  lumber,  than  fit  to  be  put 
in  men's  hands,  in  the  face  of  an  enemy  :  with  much  repair, 
some  of  them  will  do ;  with  those,  and  what  I  have  taken 
from  the  enemy,  hope  to  be  better  armed  in  a  few  days.  I 
have  written  to  the  convention,  that  it  was  my  opinion,  the 
greatest  part  of  the  first  regiment  ought  immediately  to 
march  to  the  scene  of  action  with  some  cannon,  and  a  supply 
of  ammunition,  and  every  other  necessary  for  war  that  the 
colony  can  muster,  that  a  stop  may  be  put  to  the  enemy's 
progress.  As  to  the  Carolina  troops  and  cannon,  they  are  by 
no  means  what  I  was  made  to  expect :  60  of  them  are  here, 
and  100  will  be  here  to-morrow ;  more,  it  is  said,  will  follow 
in  a  few  days,  under  Col.  Howe  ;  badly  armed,  cannon  not 
mounted,  no  furniture  to  them.  How  long  these  people  will 
choose  to  stay,  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  say;  99  in  100  of 
these  lower  people  rank  tories.  From  all  these  informations, 
if  you  can  make  a  diversion  in  my  favour,  it  will  be  of  ser 
vice  to  the  colony,  and  very  acceptable  to  myself  and  soldiers; 
whom,  if  possible,  I  will  endeavour  to  keep  easy  under  their 
hard  duty,  but  begin  to  doubt  whe^bsr  it  will  be  the  case 
long." 

In  two  days  after  the  receipt  of  thi^  letter,  came  the  news 
of  the  victory  of  the  Great  Bridge,  by  which  Col.  Woodford 
at  once  threw  into  the  shade  the  military  pretensions  of  all 
the  other  state  officers ;  a  circumstance  not  v*;ry  H'oi1  cal 
culated  to  gild  the  pill  of  contumacy,  which  he  haa  ju».  , 


PATRICK     HENRY.  189 

.sented  to  the  command er-in-chief.  The  committee  of  safety 
had  now  a  delicate  part  to  act  between  these  two  officers  ; 
they  were  extremely  anxious  to  avoid  the  decision  of  the 
quest'on  which  had  arisen  between  them,  seeing  very  dis 
tinctly  that  their  decision  could  not  but  disappoint  very  pain 
fully  that  gentleman  who  was  their  favourite  officer.  They 
seem  to  have  been  apprehensive  that  Col.  Woodford  would 
be  led,  by  that  decision,  to  resign  in  disgust ;  and  were  justly 
alarmed  at  the  idea  of  losing  the  services  of  so  valuable  an 
officer,  especially  after  the  distinction  which  he  had  recently 
gained  at  the  Great  Bridge.  Mr.  Henry,  however,  insisted 
that  the  committee  or  convention  should  determine  the  ques 
tion,  as  being  the  only  way  to  settle  the  construction  of  his 
commission.  It  was  accordingly  taken  up,  and  decided  by 
the  following  order  of  the  committee  : — 

"  In  committee — December,  MDCCLXXV. 

"  Resolved,  unanimously,  That  Colonel  Woodford,  although 
acting  upon  a  separate  and  detached  command,  ought  to  cor 
respond  with  Colonel  Henry,  and  make  returns  to  him  at 
proper  times  of  the  state  and  condition  of  the  forces  under 
his  command ;  and  also  that  he  is  subject  to  his  orders,  when 
the  convention,  or  the  committee  of  safety,  is  not  sitting,  but 
that  while  either  of  those  bodies  are  sitting,  he  is  to  receive 
his  orders  from  one  of  them." 

The  address  which  was  thought  necessary  in  communi 
cating  this  resolution  to  Colonel  Woodford,  is  a  proof  of  the 
very  high  estimate  in  which  he  was  held  by  the  committee ; 
and  the  same  evidence  furnishes  very  decisive  proof  that 
Colonel  Henry  had  not  owed  his  military  appointment  to  the 
suffrage  of  those  members  of  the  committee  who  maintained 


190  WIRT'S  LIFE   OF 

ihe  correspondence.  Thus,  on  the  13th  of  December,  1775, 
a  member  of  the  convention  addressed  a  letter  to  Colonel 
Woodford,  which  seems  to  have  been  a  preparative  for  the 
resolution  of  the  committee,  and  is  certainly  suited,  with  great 
dexterity,  to  that  object ;  the  writer,  after  some  introductory 
observations,  says ; — "  Whether  you  are  obliged  to  make  your 
returns  to  Colonel  H — y,  and  to  send  your  despatches  through 
him  to  the  convention  and  committee  of  safety,  and  also  from 
those  bodies  through  him  to  you,  must  depend  upon  the  or 
dinance  and  the  commission  he  bears.  You  will  observe 
his  commission  is  strongly  worded,  beyond  what  I  believe 
was  the  intention  of  the  person  who  drew  it* — but  the  ordi- 

*  The  committee  appointed  to  draw  up  and  report  the  forms  of 
commissions,  for  the  officers  of  the  troops  to  be  raised  by  order  of  the 
convention  of  the  summer  of  1775,  were,  Mr.  Banister,  Mr.  Lawson, 
Mr.  Walkins,  and  Mr.  Holt ;  and  on  the  26th  of  August,  1775,  Mr 
Banister  from  this  committee  reported  the  following : — 

"  Form  of  a  commission  for  the  colonel  of  the  first  regiment,  and 
commander  of  the  regular  forces. 

"  The  committee  of  safety  for  the  colony  of  Virginia,  to  Patrick 
Henry,  Esq. 

"  Whereas,  by  a  resolution  of  the  delegates  of  this  colony,  in  con 
vention  assembled,  it  was  determined  that  you,  the  said  Patrick  Henry, 
Esq.,  should  be  colonel  of  the  first  regiment  of  regulars,  and  com- 
mander-in-chief  of  all  the  forces  to  be  raised  for  the  protection  and 
defence  of  this  colony ;  and  by  an  ordinance  of  the  same  convention 
it  is  provided,  that  the  committee  of  safety  should  issue  all  military 
commissions :  Now,  in  pursuance  of  the  said  power  to  us  granted, 
and  in  conformity  to  the  appointment  of  the  convention,  we,  the  said 
committee  of  safety,  do  constitute  and  commission  you,  the  said  Pat 
rick  Henry,  Esq.,  colonel  of  the  first  regiment  of  regulars,  and  com 
mand  er-in-chief  of  all  such  other  forces  as  may,  by  order  of  the 
convention,  or  committee  of  safety ,  be  directed  to  act  in  conjunction 


PATRICK     HENRY.  191 

nance,  I  think,  clearly  gives  the  convention,  and  committee 
of  safety  acting  under  their  authority,  the  absolute  direction 
of  the  troops.  The  dispute  between  you  must  be  occasioned, 
I  suppose,  (for  I  have  not  seen  your  letter  to  the  colonel,)  by 
disregard  of  him  as  a  commander,  after  the  adjournment  of  the 
committee  of  safety,  and  before  the  meeting  of  the  conven 
tion  ;  at  which  time,  I  am  apt  to  think,  though  I  am  not 
military  man  enough  to  determine,  your  correspondence 
should  have  been  with  him  as  commanding  officer.  I  have 
talked  with  Colonel  Henry  about  this  matter ;  he  thinks  he 
has  been  ill-treated,  and  insists  the  officers  under  his  com 
mand  shall  submit  to  his  orders.  I  recommended  it  to  him 
to  treat  the  business  with  caution  and  temper ;  as  a  difference 

with  them  ;  and  with  the  said  forces,  or  any  of  them,  you  are  hereby 
empowered  to  resist  and  repel  all  hostile  invasions,  and  quell  and  sup 
press  any  insurrections  which  may  be  made  or  attempted  against  the 
peace  and  safety  of  this  his  majesty's  colony  and  dominion.  And  we 
do  require  you  to  exert  your  utmost  efforts  for  the  promotion  of  disci 
pline  and  order  among  the  officers  and  soldiers  under  your  command, 
agreeable  to  such  ordinances,  rules,  and  articles,  which  are  now  or 
hereafter  may  be,  instituted  for  the  government  and  regulation  of  the 
army;  and  that  you  pay  due  obedience  to  all  orders  and  instructions, 
which,  from  time  to  time,  you  may  receive  from  the  convention  or 
committee  of  safety  ;  to  hold,  exercise,  and  enjoy,  the  said  office  of 
colonel  and  commander-in-chief  of  the  forces,  and  to  perform  and 
execute  the  power  and  authority  aforesaid,  and  all  other  things  which 
are  truly  and  of  right  incidental  to  your  said  office,  during  the  pleasure 
of  the  convention,  and  no  longer.  And  we  do  hereby  require  and 
command  all  officers  and  soldiers,  and  every  person  whatsoever,  in 
any  way  concerned,  to  be  obedient  and  assisting  to  you  in  all 
things,  touching  the  due  execution  of  this  commission }  according  to 
the  purport  or  intent  thereof. 

"  Given  under  our  hands  at  this         day  of  ,  Anuo 

Dom    177  ." 


192  WIRTSLIFEOF 

at  this  critical  moment  between  our  troops  would  be  attended 
with  the  most  fatal  consequences ;  and  took  the  liberty  to 
assure  him  you  would,  I  was  certain,  submit  to  whatever 
was  thought  just  and  reasonable.  He  has  laid  the  letter 
before  the  committee  of  safety,  whose  sentiments  upon  the 
subject  I  expect  you  must  have  received  before  this.  I  hope 
it  will  not  come  before  us,*  but  from  what  Colonel  Henry 
said,  he  intimated  it  must,  as  it  could  be  no  otherwise  deter 
mined.  My  sentiments  upon  that  delicate  point,  I  partly 
communicated  upon  the  expected  junction  of  the  Carolina 
troops  with  ours,  which  I  presume  you  have  received.  By 
your  letter  yesterday  to  the  president,  I  find  you  agree  with 
me.  I  very  cordially  congratulate  you  on  the  success  at  the 
Bridge  and  the  reduction  of  the  fort,  which  will  give  our 
troops  the  benefit  of  better  and  more  wholesome  ground. 
Your  letter  came  to  the  convention  just  time  enough  to  read 
it  before  we  broke  up,  as  it  was  nearly  dark ;  it  was  however 
proposed  and  agreed,  that  the  president  should  transmit  you 
the  approbation  of  your  conduct  in  treating  with  kindness 
and  humanity  the  unfortunate  prisoners ;  and  that  your 
readiness  to  avoid  dispute  about  rank  with  Colonel  Howe, 
they  consider  as  a  further  mark  of  your  attachment  to  the 
service  of  your  country.  I  have  had  it  in  contemplation 
paying  you  a  visit,  but  have  not  been  able  to  leave  the  con 
vention,  as  many  of  our  members  are  absent,  and  seem  to 
be  in  continual  rotation,  some  going,  others  returning.  We 
shall  raise  many  more  battalions,  and,  as  soon  as  practi 
cable,  arm  some  vessels.  A  commander  or  general,  I  sup 
pose,  will  be  sent  us  by  the  congress,  as  it  is  expected  our 
troops  will  be  upon  continental  pay.  I  pray  God  to  protect 
you,  and  prosper  all  your  endeavours." 

*  The  convention. 


PATRICK     HENRY.  i93 

But  the  letter  from  the  chairman  of  the  committee,  which 
enclosed  the  resolution,  is  a  masterpiece  of  address,  so  far 
as  relates  to  the  feelings  of  Col.  Woodford ;  though  certainly 
not  well  judged  to  promote  the  permanent  harmony  of  those 
officers,  by  inspiring  sentiments  of  respect  and  subordination 
for  the  superior.  The  letter  bears  date  on  the  24th  of  Decem 
ber,  1775  ;  it  is  written  in  a  strain  of  the  most  frank  and 
conciliatory  friendship — full  of  deserved  eulogy  on  Colonel 
Woodford's  conduct — and  very  far  from  complimentary  to 
the  colonel  of  the  first  regiment.  In  relation  to  this  gentle 
man,  (after  having  mentioned  the  resolution  of  raising  other 
regiments,)  he  says  : — "  The  field-officers  to  each  regiment 
will  be  named  here,  and  recommended  to  congress ;  in  case 
our  army  is  taken  into  continental  pay,  they  will  send  com 
missions.  A  general  officer  will  be  chosen  there,  I  doubt  not, 
and  sent  us ;  with  that  matter,  I  hope  ive  shall  not  inter 
meddle,  lest  it  should  be  thought  propriety  requires  our 
calling  or  rather  recommending  our  present  first  officer  to 
that  station.  Believe  me,  sir,  the  unlucky  step  of  calling  that 
gentleman  from  our  councils,  where  he  was  useful,  into  the 
field,  in  an  important  station,  the  duties  of  which  he  must,  in 
the  nature  of  things,  be  an  entire  stranger  to,  has  given  me 
many  an  anxious  and  uneasy  moment.  In  consequence  of 
this  mistaken  step,  which  cannot  now  be  retracted  or  remedied, 
for  he  has  done  nothing  worthy  of  degradation,  and  must 
keep  his  rank,  we  must  be  deprived  of  the  service  of  some 
able  officers,  whose  honour  and  former  ranks  will  not  suffer 
them  to  act  under  him  in  this  juncture,  when  we  so  much  need 
their  services ;  however,  I  am  told,  that  Mercer,  Buekner, 
Dangerfield,  and  Weedon,  will  serve,  and  are  all  thought  of. 
I  am  also  told,  that  Mr.  Thurston  and  Mr.  Millikin  are  can 
didates  for  regiments  :  the  latter,  I  believe,  will  raise,  and  have 
2  B  17 


194  WIRT'S    LIFE     OF 

a  German  one.  In  the  course  of  these  reflections,  my  great 
concern  is  on  your  account.  The  pleasure  I  have  enjoyed 
in  finding  your  army  conducted  with  wisdom  and  success, 
and  your  conduct  meet  with  the  general  approbation  of  the 
convention  and  country,  makes  me  more  uneasy  at  a  thought 
that  the  country  should  be  deprived  of  your  services,  or  you 
made  uneasy  in  it,  by  any  untoward  circumstances.  I  had  seen 
your  letter  to  our  friend  Mr.  Jones,  (now  a  member  of  the  com 
mittee  of  safety,)  and  besides  that,  Col.  Henry  has  laid  before 
the  committee  your  letter  to  him,  and  desired  our  opinion, 
whether  he  was  to  command  you  or  not.  We  never  deter 
mined  this  till  Friday  evening ;  a  copy  of  the  resolution  I  en 
close  you.  If  this  will  not  be  agreeable,  and  prevent  future 
disputes,  1  hope  some  happy  medium  will  be  suggested  to 
effect  the  purpose,  and  make  you  easy  ;  for  the  colony  cannot 
part  with  you,  while  troops  are  necessary  to  be  continued." 
Mr.  Henry  had  too  much  sagacity  not  to  perceive  the  light 
in  which  he  was  viewed  by  the  committee  of  safety,  and  too 
much  sensibility  not  to  be  wounded  by  the  discovery.  His 
situation  was  indeed,  at.  this  time,  most  painfully  embarras 
sing.  The  rank  which  he  had  held  was  full  of  the  promise 
of  honour  and  distinction  ;  he  was  the  first  officer  of  the 
Virginia  forces  ;  the  celebrity  which  he  had  already  attained 
among  his  countrymen,  not  only  by  his  political  resistance 
to  the  measures  of  the  British  parliament,  but  by  the  bold 
and  daring  military  enterprise  which  he  had  headed  the  pre 
ceding  year,  in  the  affair  of  the  gunpowder,  led  his  country 
men  to  expect,  that  the  appointment  which  he  now  held 
would  not  be  a  barren  one,  but  that  he  would  mark  it  with 
the  characters  of  his  extraordinary  genius,  and  become  as 
distinguished  in  the  field  as  he  had  been  in  the  ser  ate.  He 
knew  that  these  expectations  were  entertained,  and  had 


PATRICK    HENRY.  195 

every  disposition  to  realize  them ;  but  his  wishes  and  his 
hopes  were  perpetually  overruled  by  the  committee  of  safety, 
who  commanded  over  him,  and  who  gratuitously  distrusting 
his  capacity  for  war,  would  give  him  no  opportunity  of  mak 
ing  trial  of  it.  Yet  Mr.  Henry,  untried,  has  been  most 
unjustly  slighted  as  a  soldier,  and  spoken  of  as  a  mere  mili 
tary  cipher !  If  I  have  not  been  misinformed,  some  of  those 
who  composed  this  very  committee  did,  in  aftertimes,  fre 
quently  allude  to  this  period  of  his  life,  to  prove  the  practical 
inutility  of  his  character,  and  have  applied  to  him  the  saying, 
which  Wilkes  applied  to  Lord  Chatham,  that  "  all  his  power 
and  efficacy  was  seated  in  his  tongue."*  What  figure  he 
might  have  made  in  war,  had  the  opportunity  been  allowed 
him,  can  now  be  only  matter  of  speculation.  His  personal 
bravery,  so  far  as  I  have  heard,  has  never  been  called  in 
question ;  or  if  it  has,  it  has  been  without  evidence  :  and 
neither  his  ardour  in  the  public  cause,  nor  his  strong  natural 
sense,  can  with  any  colour  of  justice  be  disputed.  If  we  su- 
peradd  to  these  qualities  that  presence  of  mind,  that  promp 
titude,  boldness,  and  novelty  of  view — that  dexterous  address, 
and  fertility  of  expedient,  for  which  he  was  remarkable — I 
can  see  no  reason  to  doubt,  that  he  would  have  justified  the 
highest  expectations  of  his  admirers,  had  he  been  permitted 
to  command  the  expedition  which  he  courted.  As  to  his 
want  of  experience,  the  alleged  ground  for  keeping  him  so 
ignominiously  confined  to  head-quarters,  he  possessed  pretty 
nearly  as  much  experience  as  Colonel  Washington  had 
when  he  covered  the  retreat  of  Braddock's  routed  forces ; 

* — homines  inertissimi,  quorum  omnis  vis,  virtusque  in  lingua 
sita  eat. 

Sallust.  Oratio  sec.  De  Rep.  Ord. 

16 


196  WIRT'S     LIFE    OF 

as  much,  too,  as  those  young  generals  of  ours  who  have  re 
cently  covered  themselves  with  so  much  glory  on  our  north 
ern  frontier  :  nor  would  it  seem  to  comport  with  that  respect 
which  the  committee  owed  to  the  convention,  from  whom 
both  Colonel  Henry  and  themselves  had  received  their  re 
spective  appointments,  to  arrogate  the  p  rwer  of  reversing 
the  decree  of  the  convention,  and  practically  degrading  the 
officer  of  their  first  choice.  It  is  certain  that  the  committee 
were  severely  spoken  of  at  the  day,  and  that  the  people,  as 
well  as  the  soldiery,  did  not  hesitate  openly  to  impute  their 
conduct  toward  Mr.  Henry  to  personal  envy. 

Other  humiliations  yet  awaited  him.  Shortly  after  the 
affair  of  the  Great  Bridge,  Colonel  Howe,  of  North  Carolina, 
at  the  head  of  five  or  six  hundred  men  of  that  state,  joined 
Colonel  Woodford ;  and  taking  the  command  of  the  whole, 
with  the  consent  of  the  latter  gentleman,  who  yielded  to  the 
seniority  of  his  commission,  marched  with  their  united 
forces  into  Norfolk,  which  had  been  evacuated  by  the  British. 
From  this  post  Colonel  Howe  continually  addressed  his  com 
munications  to  the  committee  of  safety,  or  to  the  convention ; 
and  Colonel  Henry,  after  having  seen  his  lawful  rights  and 
honours  transferred,  in  the  first  instance,  to  an  inferior  officer 
of  his  own,  had  now  the  mortification  of  seeing  himself 
completely  superseded,  and  almost  annihilated,  by  an  officer 
from  another  state  of  only  equal  rank. 

But  even  this  was  not  all :  six  additional  regiments  had 
been  raised  by  the  convention,  and  congress  had  been  solicit 
ed  to  take  the  Virginia  troops  on  continental  establishment. 
They  resolved  to  take  the  six  new  regiments,  passing  by  the 
two  first ;  a  discrimination  which  conveys  so  palpable  a  re 
flection  on  the  two  first  regiments,  that  it  is  difficult  to  ac 
count  for  it,  except  by  the  secret  influence  of  that  unfriendly 


PATRICK  HENRY.  197 

star,  which  had  hitherto  controlled  and  obscured  Mr.  Henry's 
military  destinies.  The  measure  was  so  exactly  adjust 
ed  to  the  wish  expressed  by  Colonel  Woodfcrd's  correspond 
ent,  that  congress  would  not  devolve  the  chief  command  of 
the  Virginia  forces  on  Colonel  Henry,  that  it  is  difficult  to 
avoid  the  suspicion  that  the  suggestion  came  from  the  same 
quarter.  The  convention,  however,  now  interfered  in  behalf 
of  their  favourite  ;  and  remonstrated  against  this  degradation 
of  the  officers  of  their  first  choice  ;  earnestly  recommending 
it  to  congress,  if  they  adhered  to  their  resolution  of  taking 
into  continental  pay  no  more  than  six  regiments,  to  suffer 
the  two  first  to  stand  first  in  the  arrangement.  This  course 
was  accordingly  adopted ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  commissions 
of  brigadier-general  were  forwarded  by  congress  to  Colonel 
Howe,  and  Colonel  Andrew  Lewis. 

The  reader,  if  he  knows  any  thing  of  the  scrupulous  and 
even  fastidious  delicacy  with  which  military  officers  watch 
the  most  distant  reflection  upon  their  competency,  will  not 
be  surprised  that  Mr.  Henry  refused  the  continental  commis 
sion  of  colonel,*  which  was  now  offered  to  him,  and  imme- 

*  The  following  is  an  exact  copy  of  the  commission  sent  from  the 
general  congress  to  the  committee  of  safety,  appointing  Colonel 
Henry  to  the  command  of  the  first  regiment,  or  battalion,  in  this  colony, 
taken  upon  the  continental  establishment,  agreeable  to  the  requisition 
of  the  last  convention : — 

"!N  CONGRESS. 

"  The  delegates  of  the  United  Colonies  of  New  Hampshire,  Massa 
chusetts  bay,  Rhode  Island,  Connecticut,  New  York,  New  Jersey, 
Pennsylvania,  the  counties  of  New  Castle,  Kent,  and  Sussex,  on 
Delaware,  Maryland,  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina, 
and  Georgia,  to  Patrick  Henry,  Esq. : — 

"  We,  reposing  especial  trust  and  confidence  in  your  patriotism, 
valour,  conduct,  and  fidelity,  do,  by  these  presents  constitute  and  ap 

17* 


198  WIRT'S    LIFE    OF 

diately  resigned  that  which  he  held  from  the  state.  His  re 
signation  produced  a  commotion  in  the  camp,  which  wore  at 
first  an  alarming  aspect ;  and  would  probably  have  had  an 
extremely  unpropitious  effect  on  the  military  efforts  of  the 
state,  had  it  not  been  instantaneously  quelled  by  his  own 
patriotic  exertions.  The  following  is  the  notice  of  this  trans 
action  from  Purdie's  paper  of  March  1,  1776  : — 

"  Yesterday  morning,  the  troops  in  this  city  being  inform 
ed  that  Patrick  Henry,  esquire,  commander-in-chief  of  the 
Virginia  forces,  was  about  to  leave  them,  the  whole  went 
into  deep  mourning,  and  being  under  arms,  waited  on  him 
at  his  lodgings,  when  they  addressed  him  in  the  following 
manner : — 

point  you  to  be  colonel  of  the  first  battalion  of  Virginia  forces,  in  the 
army  of  the  United  Colonies,  raised  for  the  defence  of  American  lib 
erty,  and  for  repelling  every  hostile  invasion  thereof.  You  are,  there 
fore,  carefully  and  diligently  to  discharge  the  duty  of  colonel,  by  do 
ing  and  performing  all  manner  of  things  thereunto  belonging.  And 
we  do  strictly  charge  and  require  all  officers  and  soldiers  under  your 
command  to  be  obedient  to  your  orders  as  colonel.  And  you  are  to 
observe  and  follow  such  orders  and  directions,  from  time  to  time,  as 
you  shall  receive  from  this  or  a  future  congress  of  the  United  Colo 
nies,  or  committee  of  congress,  for  that  purpose  appointed,  or  com 
mander-in-chief  for  the  time  being  of  the  army  of  the  United  Colonies 
or  any  other  superior  officer,  according  to  the  rules  and  discipline  of 
war,  in  pursuance  of  the  trust  reposed  in  you.  This  commission  to 
continue  in  force  until  revoked  by  this  or  a  future  congress. 
"  By  order  of  the  Congress, 

"JOHN  HANCOCK,  President." 
"  Attest, 

"CHARLES  THOMSON,  Secretary. 
"Philadelphia,  Feb.  13th,  1776." 


PATRICK     HENRY.  199 

*' '  To  Patrick  Henry,  jun.  Esquire. 

"  *  Deeply  impressed  with  a  grateful  sense  of  the  obligations 
we  lie  under  to  you,  for  the  polite,  humane,  and  tender  treat 
ment  manifested  to  us  throughout  the  whole  of  your  conduct, 
while  we  had  the  honour  of  being  under  your  command, 
permit  us  to  offer  you  our  sincere  thanks,  as  the  only  tribute 
we  have  in  our  power  to  pay  to  your  real  merits.  Notwith 
standing  your  withdrawing  yourself  from  the  service  fills 
us  with  the  most  poignant  sorrow,  as  it  at  once  deprives 
us  of  our  father  and  general ;  yet,  as  gentlemen,  we  are 
compelled  to  applaud  your  spirited  resentment  to  the  most 
glaring  indignity.  May  your  merit  shine  as  conspicuous 
to  the  world  in  general,  as  it  hath  done  to  us,  and  may  Heav 
en  shower  its  choicest  blessings  upon  you !' 

"  To  which  he  returned  the  following  answer : — 

"  *  Gentlemen, 

"  *  I  am  exceedingly  obliged  to  you  for  your  approbation  of 
my  conduct.  Your  address  does  me  the  highest  honour. 
This  kind  testimony  of  your  regard  to  me  would  have  been 
an  ample  reward  for  services  much  greater  than  those  /  have 
had  the  power  to  perform.  I  return  you,  and  each  of  you, 
gentlemen,  my  best  acknowledgments  for  the  spirit,  alacrity, 
and  zeal,  you  have  constantly  shown  in  your  several  stations. 
I  am  unhappy  to  part  with  you.  I  leave  the  service,  but  I 
leave  my  heart  with  you.  May  God  bless  you,  and  give 
you  success  and  safety,  and  make  you  the  glorious  instru 
ment  of  saving  our  country.' 

"  After  the  officers  had  received  Colonel  Henry's  kind 
answer  to  their  address,  they  insisted  upon  his  dining  with 

N  9 


300  WIRT'S   LIFE   OF 

them  at  the  Raleigh  tavern,  before  his  departure :  and  after 
dinner  a  number  of  them  proposed  escorting  him  out  of  town, 
but  were  prevented  in  their  resolution  by  some  uneasiness 
getting  among  the  soldiery,  who  assembled  in  a  tumultuous 
manner,  and  demanded  their  discharge,  declaring  their  un 
willingness  to  serve  under  any  other  commander ;  upon 
which  Col.  Henry  found  it  necessary  to  stay  a  night  longer 
in  town ;  which  he  spent  in  visiting  the  several  barracks, 
and  used  every  argument  in  his  power  with  the  soldiery,  to 
lay  aside  their  imprudent  resolution,  and  to  continue  in  the 
service  which  he  had  quitted  from  motives  in  which  Ids  hon 
our  alone  was  concerned ;  and  that,  although  he  was  pre 
vented  from  serving  his  country  in  a  military  capacity,  yet 
his  utmost  abilities  should  be  exerted  for  the  real  interest 
of  the  united  colonies,  in  support  of  the  glorious  cause  in 
which  they  have  engaged.  This,  accompanied  with  the 
extraordinary  exertions  of  Col.  Christian  and  other  officers 
piesent,  happily  produced  the  desired  effect,  the  soldiers  re 
luctantly  acquiescing ;  and  we  have  now  the  pleasure  to  as 
sure  the  public,  that  those  brave  fellows  are  now  pretty  well 
reconciled,  and  will  spend  the  last  drop  of  their  blood  in  their 
country's  defence." 

This  is  the  man  who  has  been  sometimes  branded  as  a 
turbulent,  seditious,  factious  demagogue  !  Had  he  been  of 
this  character,  what  an  occasion  was  here  to  have  provoked 
it  to  action !  This  love  for  the  man  and  the  officer,  and  this 
resentment  of  the  indignities  to  which  he  had  been  subjected, 
was  not  confined  to  the  camp  at  Williamsburg ;  they  per 
vaded  the  whole  army,  and  were  felt  and  expressed  by  the 
following  address,  signed  by  upwards  of  ninety  officers  at 
Kemp's  landing  and  Suffolk,  (in  Colonel  WoodforcFs  camp,) 


PATRICK     HENRY.  201 

as   well  as  at  Williamsburg ;  and  printed  by  their  desire  in 
Purdie's  paper  of  the  22d  March,  1775  : — 

"  Sir, 

"  Deeply  concerned  for  the  good  of  our  country,  we  sin 
cerely  lament  the  unhappy  necessity  of  your  resignation,  and 
with  all  the  warmth  of  affection  assure  you,  that,  whatever 
may  have  given  rise  to  the  indignity  lately  offered  to  you, 
we  join  with  the  general  voice  of  the  people,  and  think  it  our 
duty  to  make  this  public  declaration  of  our  high  respect  for 
your  distinguished  merit.  To  your  vigilance  and  judgment 
as  a  senator  this  united  continent  bears  ample  testimony ; 
while  she  prosecutes  her  steady  opposition  to  those  destruc 
tive  ministerial  measures  which  your  eloquence  first  pointed 
out  and  taught  to  resent,  and  your  resolution  led  forward 
to  resist.  To  your  extensive  popularity  the  service  also  is 
greatly  indebted,  for  the  expedition  with  which  the  troops 
were  raised ;  and,  while  they  were  continued  under  your 
command,  the  firmness,  candour,  and  politeness,  which  form 
ed  the  complexion  of  your  conduct  toward  them,  obtained 
the  signal  approbation  of  the  wise  and  virtuous,  and  will  leave 
upon  our  minds  the  most  grateful  impression.  Although 
retired  from  the  immediate  concerns  of  war,  we  solicit  the 
continuance  of  your  kindly  attention.  We  know  your  at 
tachment  to  the  best  of  causes  ;  we  have  the  fullest  confi 
dence  in  your  abilities,  and  in  the  rectitude  of  your  views  ; 
and  however  willing  the  envious  may  be  to  undermine  an 
established  reputation,  we  trust  the  day  will  come,  when 
justice  shall  prevail,  and  thereby  secure  you  an  honourable 
and  happy  return  to  the  glorious  employment  of  conducting 
our  councils,  and  hazarding  your  life  in  the  defence  of  your 
country. 

'2C 


202  WIRT'SLIFEOF 

"  With  the  most  grateful  sentiments  of  regard  and  esteem, 
we  are,  sir,  very  respectfully,  your  most  obliged  and  obedient 
humble  servants.'1 

If  any  doubt  can  be  entertained  as  to  the  body  to  which 
this  imputation  of  envy  pointed,  it  will  be  removed  by  the  fol 
lowing  defence  of  the  committee  of  safety,  extracted  from  the 
supplement  to  Purdie's  paper  of  the  15th  of  March,  1776  : — 

"  Mr.  Purdie, 

"  I  am  informed  a  report  is  prevailing  through  the  colony, 
that  the  committee  of  safety  were  the  cause  of  Col.  Henry's 
resigning  the  command  of  his  battalion  ;  which  it  is  supposed 
hath  received  confirmation  from  the  address  of  the  officers  to 
that  gentleman,  in  which  they  speak  of  a  glaring  indig 
nity  having  been  offered  him,  if  it  was  not  wholly  derived 
from  that  source.  That  the  good  people  of  the  country  may 
be  truly  informed  in  this  matter,  the  following  state  of  facts 
is  submitted,  without  comment,  to  the  impartial  judgment  of 
the  public  : — 

*'  As  soon  as  the  last  convention  had  voted  the  raising 
seven  new  battalions  of  troops,  besides  augmenting  the  old 
ones,  the  committee  of  safety  informed  our  delegates  to  con 
gress  of  that  vote,  desiring  they  would  use  their  best  endeav 
ours  to  have  the  whole  supported  at  continental  expense; 
in  answer  to  which,  a  letter  was  received  from  the  delegates, 
dated  the  30th  of  December,  of  which  the  following  is  an  ex 
tract  ; — « The  resolutions  of  congress  for  taking  our  six  ad 
ditional  (they  would  not  agree  to  take  our  other  two)  battal 
ions,  into  continental  pay,  and  for  permitting  an  exportation 
for  supplying  our  countrymen  with  salt,  are  enclosed.'  It 
was  supposed  from  hence,  an  intention  prevailed  in  congress 


PATRICK     HENRY.  203 

to  pass  by  the  two  old  battalions,  and  take  six  of  the  new 
ones  into  continental  pay ;  which,  as  it  was  said  those  offi 
cers  would  take  precedency  of  provincial  ones  of  equal  rank, 
was  generally  thought  wrong,  since  it  would  degrade  the  offi 
cers  of  the  two  first  battalions :  and,  to  avoid  this,  the  con 
vention  came  to  a  resolution,  the  10th  of  January,  of  which 
the  following  is  part : — *  Should  the  congress  adhere  to  their 
resolution  of  taking  into  continental  pay  no  more  than  six 
battalions,  let  it  be  earnestly  recommended  to  them  to  suffer 
our  two  present  battalions  (to  be  completed  as  before  men 
tioned)  to  stand  first  in  the  arrangement ;  since,  otherwise, 
the  officers  first  appointed  by  this  convention,  most  of  whom 
have  already  gone  through  a  laborious  and  painful  service, 
will  be  degraded  in  their  ranks,  and  there  is  too  much  reason 
to  apprehend  that  great  confusion  will  ensue.' 

"  The  worthy  gentleman  (not  a  member  of  the  committee 
of  safety]  who  proposed  this  resolution,  informed  the  conven 
tion,  he  had  consulted  some  of  the  officers  of  the  first  regi 
ment,  who  wished  to  have  their  rank  preserved,  though  it 
was  foreseen  the  pay  would  be  reduced. 

"  The  committee  of  safety,  in  a  letter  to  the  delegates, 
dated  the  25th  of  January,  enclosing  this  resolution,  thus 
write  : — *  You  have  a  list  of  the  field  officers  as  they  stand 
recommended,  and  we  doubt  not  receiving  the  commissions 
in  the  like  order,  with  blanks  for  the  proper  number  of  cap 
tains  and  subalterns.  If,  however,  the  resolution  of  congress 
should  be  unalterably  fixed  to  allow  us  but  six  battalions,  you 
will  please  to  attend  to  that  part  of  the  resolve  which  re 
commends  their  being  the  first  six,  as  a  point  of  great  conse 
quence  to  our  harmony,  in  which  may  be  involved  the 
good  of  the  common  cause.'  The  committee  of  safety  after 
ward  icceived  the  commissions  wholly  filled  up  for  the  field 


204  WIRT'S    LIFE     OF 

officers  of  six  battalions,  in  the  rank  they  stood  recommended 
by  the  convention,  beginning  with  Col.  Henry,  and  ending 
with  Col.  Buckner  of  the  6th  battalion,  with  directions  to 
deliver  them.  Colonel  Henry  was  accoidingly  offered  his 
commission,  which  he  declined  accepting,  and  retired  without 
assigning  any  reasons. 

"  As  to  the  general  officers,  the  convention  left  them  en 
tirely  to  the  choice  of  the  congress,  without  recommenda 
tion  ;  nor  did  the  committee  of  safety  at  all  intermeddle  in 
that  choice. 

"  A  FRIEND  TO  TRUTH." 

Immediately  following  this  defence  of  the  committee,  in 
the  same  paper,  are  the  two  following  articles  : — 

"  Mr.  Purdie, 

"  The  address  of  the  officers  to  Col.  Henry,  and  the  col.'s 
reply,  has  led  some  of  our  enemies  to  hope  that  there  would 
be  great  discontent  in  the  army,  by  which  our  military  opera 
tions  would  be  retarded,  and  that  there  would  be  a  consider 
able  murmuring  against  the  congress  ;  but  they  are  much 
mistaken.  It  is  true  the  soldiers  and  officers  were  very  un 
happy  at  parting  with  so  amiable  a  commander  as  Colonel 
Henry ;  and  might  be  a  little  imprudent  in  some  expressions 
on  the  occasion ;  but  there  is  not  a  man  of  them  who  is  not 
so  warmly  attached  to  the  glorious  cause  he  is  engaged  in, 
as  to  serve  with  alacrity  under  any  commander,  rather  than 
it  should  suffer.  And  Colonel  Henry  himself  is  a  gentleman 
of  so  much  honour,  and  so  true  a  patriot,  that  he  will  never 
countenance  a  murmur  against  the  congress  ;  nay  so  far  from 
it,  that  it  is  highly  probable  he  will  soon  be  found  in  that 
august  assembly,  urging  with  his  powerful  eloquence,  fhe 


PATRICK   HENRY.  205 

necessity  of  prosecuting  the  war  with  redoubled  vigour.     I 
am  a  sincere  friend  to  the  congress  and  to  Colonel  Henry." 


"  Mr.  Purdie, 

"  c  Envy  will  merit  as  its  shade  pursue : 

But,  like  the  shadow,  proves  the  substance  true.1 

POPE. 

"  I  was  not  surprised  to  see,  in  your  last  week's  gazette, 
the  resignation  of  Patrick  Henry,  esquire,  late  commander- 
in-chief  of  all  the  Virginia  forces,  and  colonel  of  the  first 
regiment.  From  that  gentleman's  amiable  disposition,  his 
invariable  perseverance  in  the  cause  of  liberty,  we  appre 
hend  that  envy  strove  to  bury  in  obscurity  his  martial  tal 
ents.  Fettered  and  confined,  with  only  an  empty  title, 
the  mere  echo  of  authority,  his  superior  abilities  lay  inac 
tive,  nor  could  be  exerted  for  his  honour,  or  his  country's 
good. 

"  Virginia  may  truly  boast,  that  in  him  she  finds  the  able 
statesman,  the  soldier's  father,  the  best  of  citizens,  and  liber 
ty's  dear  friend.  Clad  with  innocence,  as  in  a  coat-of-mail, 
he  is  proof  against  every  serpentile  tvhisper.  The  officers 
and  soldiers,  who  know  him,  are  riveted  to  his  bosom  ;  when 
he  speaks,  all  is  silence ;  when  he  orders,  they  cheerfully 
obey  ;  and  in  the  field,  under  so  sensible,  so  prudent  an  offi 
cer,  though  hosts  oppose  them,  with  shouts  they  meet  their 
armed  foe,  the  sure  presages  of  victory  and  success. 

"  Let  us,  my  countrymen,  with  grateful  hearts,  remember 
that  he  carried  off  the  standard  of  liberty,  and  defeated  Gren- 
ville  in  his  favourite  stamp  act. 

IS 


206  WIRT'SLIFEOF 

"  '  While  many  dreaded,  till  with  pleasing  eye, 
Saw  tyranny  before  brave  Henry  fly.' 

"  I  am,  Mr.  Purdie,  your  friend,  and  a  well-wisher  to 
Virginia. 

"  AN  HONEST  FARMER." 

It  is  very  clear  from  the  last  piece,  as  well  as  from  the  ad 
dress  of  the  ninety  officers,  which  has  been  already  given, 
and  which  was  published  by  their  desire  in  a  paper  subse 
quent  to  that  which  contains  the  defence  of  the  committee, 
that  that  defence  had  been  by  no  means  satisfactory ;  and 
that  either  the  committee  as  a  body,  or  what  is  more  proba 
ble,  some  individual  or  individuals  of  it,  were  still  believed  to 
have  had  a  secret  hand  in  planning  and  directing  the  series  of 
indignities  which  had  driven  Mr.  Henry  from  a  military  life. 
It  would  seem  that  the  truly  respectable  and  venerable  chair 
man  of  that  committee  •  came  in  at  the  time  for  his  full  pro 
portion  of  this  censure,  and  that  he  smarted  severely  under 
it :  this  I  infer,  from  a  letter  of  his  to  Colonel  Woodford  some 
time  afterward,  in  answer  to  one  by  which  that  gentleman 
had  consulted  him  as  to  the  propriety  of  his  resigning  his 
commission.  After  having  dissuaded  him  from  this  step  by 
other  topics,  he  proceeds  thus  : — "  I  am  apprehensive  that 
your  resignation  will  be  handled  to  your  disadvantage,  from 
a  certain  quarter,  where  all  reputations  are  sacrificed, 
for  the  sake  of  one ;  what  does  it  signify,  that  he  resigned 
without  any  such  cause,  or  assigning  any  reason  at. all?  it 
is  not  without  example,  that  others  should  be  censured  for 
what  he  is  applauded  for?  This  acrimony,  so  unusual 
fiom  a  man  of  Mr.  Pendleton's  benevolence  and  courtesy, 


PATRICK    HENRY.  207 

could  have  been  wrung  from  him  only  by  the  bitterest  provo 
cations  ;  and  renders  it  highly  probable,  that  the  numerous 
and  enthusiastic  admirers  of  Mr.  Henry  had  implicated  this 
gentleman  deeply  in  the  indignities  which  had  recently  been 
offered  to  their  favourite. 

The  necessity  of  placing  this  incident  of  Mr.  Henry's  life 
in  its  true  light,  upon  the  evidence  in  my  possession,  has  im 
posed  upon  me  a  very  painful  duty  in  regard  to  Mr.  Pendle- 
ton.  With  the  justice  or  injustice  of  the  construction  placed 
upon  his  conduct  in  relation  to  Mr.  Henry,  I  have  nothing  to 
do.  Even  if  just,  the  infirmity  of  human  nature  may  be 
easily  excused  in  feeling  some  uneasiness  at  the  eclipsing 
brightness  with  which  Mr.  Henry  had  rushed,  like  a  comet, 
to  the  head  of  affairs  in  Virginia.  It  demands,  however,  no 
uncommon  measure  of  charity  to  believe,  that  what  was  im 
puted  to  envy  at  the  time,  proceeded,  so  far  as  Mr.  Pendleton 
was  concerned,  from  a  single  eye  to  the  public  good,  and  a 
sincere  belief  on  his  part,  (an  opinion  in  which  he  was  by  no 
means  singular,)  that  Mr.  Henry's  inexperience  in  military 
affairs  made  it  unsafe  to  commit  to  his  management  the  in 
fancy  of  our  war.  The  people  required  to  be  animated  by 
success  in  the  onset ;  and  it  was  therefore  very  natural  in  the 
committee  of  safety,  on  whom  the  responsibility  for  the  man 
agement  of  the  war  devolved,  to  select,  for  the  first  enter 
prises,  the  most  experienced  commander.  Mr.  Pendleton  was 
too  virtuous  a  man,  and  too  faithful  a  patriot,  to  have  yielded 
consciously  to  any  other  motive  of  action  than  the  public 
good.  His  country  has  fixed  its  seal  upon  his  exalted  charac 
ter,  and  the  writer  of  these  sketches  is  much  more  disposed 
to  brighten  than  to  efface  the  impression. 

The  motives  of  Mr.  Henry's  resignation  of  his  commission 
which  have  been  stated,  are  very  easily  and  clearly  deducible 


208  WIRT'S   LIFE   OF 

from  the  papers  of  the  day,  and  were  expressly  avowed  by 
him  to  his  confidential  friend  and  brother-in-law,  Colonel 
Meredith.*  To  other  friends,  however,  he  stated  that  he  was 
the  more  reconciled  to  the  necessity  which  had  compelled 
him  to  resign,  because  he  believed  that  he  could  perhaps 
serve  the  cause  of  his  country  more  effectually  in  the  public 
councils  than  in  the  field.t 

Immediately  upon  his  resignation  he  was  elected  a  dele 
gate  to  the  convention  for  the  county  of  Hanover.  The  ses 
sion  of  that  body,  which  was  now  coming  on,  was  pregnant 
with  importance.  Dunmore  had  abdicated  the  chair  of  gov 
ernment,  and  the  royal  authority  in  the  colony  was  seen 
and  felt  no  longer,  but  in  acts  of  hostility.  The  king  had 
declared  from  his  throne,  that  the  colonists  must  be  reduced 
by  force  to  submit  to  the  British  claim  of  taxation ;  and  the 
colonists,  on  their  part,  had  avowed  that  they  never  would 
submit  to  this  prostration  of  their  rights  ;  but,  on  the  contra 
ry,  that  they  would  hand  down  to  their  children  the  birth 
right  of  liberty  which  they  had  enjoyed,  or  perish  in  the  at 
tempt.  On  this  quarrel  arms  had  been  taken  up  on  both 
sides,  and  the  appeal  had  been  made  to  the  God  of  battles. 
The  war  had  assumed  a  regular  and  settled  form ;  blood  had 

*  These  are  Colonel  Meredith's  words  : — "  P.  H.  in  a  communica 
tion  to  Col.  M.  stated  his  motives  for  resigning  his  commission  as  col 
onel.  He  conceived  himself  neglected,  by  younger  officers  having  been 
put  above  him,  and  preferred  to  him ;  particularly  in  the  affair  of  the 
Great  Bridge,  where  he  wished  to  have  commanded  ;  but  Colonel 
Woodford  received  that  appointment.  He  disliked  his  being  kept  in 
and  about  Williamsburg,  and  not  appointed  to  some  important  post  or 
expedition.  He  was  thus  induced  to  think  he  was  neglected  by  those 
who  had  the  power  of  appointment.  He  therefore  resigned." 

t  Judge  Tyler,  and  Captain  George  Dabney. 


PATRICK     HENRI.  209 

been  profusely  shed  in  various  parts  of  the  comment,  and  re 
conciliation  had  become  hopeless. 

The  people  being  thus  abandoned  by  their  king,  put  out 
of  his  protection,  declared  in  i  state  of  open  rebellion,  and 
treated  as  enemies,  the  social  compact  which  had  united  the 
monarch  with  his  subjects  was  at  an  end ;  the  colonial  con 
stitution,  which  could  be  set  and  kept  in  motion  only  by 
the  presence  and  agency  of  the  king  or  his  representative, 
was  of  course  dissolved  ;  and  all  the  rights  and  powers  of 
government  reverted,  of  necessity,  to  their  source,  the  people. 
These  causes  produced  the  convention.  It  was  the  organ  by 
which  the  people  chose  to  exercise  the  fundamental  rights 
thus  thrown  back  upon  them,  by  the  dissolution  of  the  regal 
government.  It  was  the  substitute  for  the  whole  govern 
ment  which  had  been  withdrawn — legislative,  executive, 
and  judiciary.  It  represented  the  whole  political  power  of 
the  people  ;  and  had  been  expressly  elected  to  take  care  of 
the  republic.  The  means  of  accomplishing  this  object  were 
left  to  themselves,  without  limitation  or  restriction  on  the 
part  of  the  people.  Hitherto,  while  any  hope  of  a  restora 
tion  of  the  original  government  on  just  terms  could  be  enter 
tained,  the  convention  had  been  satisfied  with  temporary  ex 
pedients  ;  the  first  convention,  however,  had  exercised  the 
power  of  the  people  in  their  highest  capacity,  by  adopting  a 
species  of  constitution,  and  organizing  a  government  under 
it ;  thus  they  erected  an  executive,  under  the  name  of  a  com 
mittee  of  safety,  which  the  people  recognised  as  flowing  di 
rectly  from  themselves.  Before  the  meeting  of  the  conven 
tion  of  1776,  however,  it  was  seen  and  well  understood  on 
every  hand,  that  the  contest  could  not  be  maintained  by  the 
people,  without  the  aid  of  regular  government ;  and  that  the 
political  malady  of  which  they  complained,  could  be  extir- 
2D  18* 


210  WIRT'S   LIFE    OF 

paled  in  no  other  way  than  by  applying  the  knife  to  the  root. 
The  newspapers  of  the  preceding  year  contain  frequent  sug 
gestions  of  this  kind ;  the  impression  had  now  become  uni 
versal  ;  and  the  papers  present  specimens  of  explicit  instruc 
tions  from  the  people  to  their  delegates  to  this  effect.*  Thus 

*  The  following  are  the  instructions  from  the  freeholders  of  James' 
city  to  their  delegates : — 

"  To  Robert  C.  Nicholas,  and  William  Norvell,  Esquires  :— 
"  Gentlemen, 

"  In  vain  do  we  congratulate  ourselves  on  the  impotency  of  the  min 
ister  to  divide  us,  if  our  union  amounts  to  nothing  more  than  a  union 
in  one  common  lethargy.  War  hath  been  brought  into  our  houses, 
heightened  by  terrors  and  cruelties  which  the  justest  cause  wants  even 
palliatives  for ;  but  faint  advances  towards  peace,  insidiously  urged, 
have  caught  the  ear  of  the  credulous,  and  groundless  hopes  of  accom 
modation  deluded  the  timid,  so  that  the  free  military  system  remains 
untouched  in  most  essential  points.  As  if  our  inexperience,  poverty 
in  warlike  stores,  and  the  infancy  of  our  navy,  were  of  trifling  moment, 
we  have  ventured  to  neglect  resources  in  such  difficulties,  which 
Heaven  hath  placed  within  our  attainment. 

"  Alliances  may  be  formed  at  an  easy  price,  capable  of  supplying 
these  disadvantages,  but  an  independent  state  disdains  to  humble 
herself  to  an  equality  in  treaty  with  another,  who  cannot  call  her  pol 
itics  her  own  ;  or,  to  be  explicit,  she  cannot  enter  into  a  negotiation 
with  those  who  denominate  themselves  rebels,  by  resistance,  and  con 
fession  of  a  dependancy. 

"  Reasons,  drawn  from  justice,  policy,  and  necessity,  are  every 
where  at  hand/or  a  radical  separation  from  Great  Britain.  From 
justice ;  for  the  blood  of  those  who  have  fallen  in  our  cause  cries 
aloud,  '  It  is  time  to  part.'  From  necessity,  because  she  hath,  of  ner- 
self,  repudiated  us  by  a  rapid  succession  of  insult,  injury,  robbery, 
murder,  and  a  formal  declaration  of  war.  These  are  but  few,  and 
some  of  the  weakest  arguments  which  the  great  volume  of  our  op 
pression  opens  to  every  spirited  American. 

u  It  cannot  be  a  violation  of  our  faith  now  to  reject  the  terms  of 
1763.  They  are  a  qualified  slavery  at  best,  and  were  acceptable  to  us, 


PATRICK     HENRY.  211 

instructed  in  the  sentiments  of  their  constituents,  and  repre 
senting  the  people  in  their  highest  sovereign  capacky,  the 
convention  met  on  the  6th  of  May,  1776,  in  the  old  capitol 
in  the  city  of  Williamsburg.  Mr.  Pendleton  having  been 
elected  president,  after  having  thanked  the  house  for  the 
honour  done  him,  addressed  them  with  great  solemnity,  in  the 
following  terms  : — "We  are  now  met  in  general  convention 
according  to  the  ordinance  for  our  election,  at  a  time  truly 
critical,  when  subjects  of  the  most  important,  and  interesting 
nature  require  our  serious  attention. 

"  The  administration  of  justice,  and  almost  all  the  powers 
of  government,  have  now  been  suspended  for  near  two  years. 
It  will  become  us  to  reflect  whether  we  can  longer  sustain 
the  great  struggle  we  are  making  in  this  situation."  Having 
then  directed  their  attention  to  certain  specific  subjects  which 
required  attention,  he  concluded  his  short,  but  impressive  ad 
dress,  by  exhorting  the  members  to  calmness,  unanimity,  and 
diligence. 

On  the  fifteenth  of  May,  Mr.  Gary  reported  from  the  com 
mittee  of  the  whole  house  on  the  state  of  the  colony,  the  fol 
lowing  preamble  and  resolutions,  which  were  unanimously 
adopted : — 

"  Forasmuch  as  all  the  endeavours  of  the  United  Colonies, 
by  the  most  decent  representations  and  petitions  to  the  king 

not  as  the  extent  of  our  right,  but  the  probable  cause  of  peace  j  but 
since  the  day  in  which  they  were  most  humbly  offered  as  the  end 
of  animosities,  an  interval  hath  passed,  marked  with  tyranny  intol 
erable. 

"  We,  therefore,  whose  names  are  hereunto  subscribed,  do  request 
and  instruct  you,  our  delegates,  (provided  no  just  and  honourable  terms 
are  offered  by  the  king,)  to  exert  your  utmost  ability,  in  the  next  con 
vention,  toward  dissolving-  the  connexion  between  America  and 
Great  Britain,  TOTALLY,  FINALLY,  AND  IRREVOCABLY.' 


212  WIRT'S   LIFE   OF 

and  parliament  of  Great  Britain,  to  restore  peace  and  security 
to  America  under  the  British  government,  and  a  reunion 
with  that  people  upon  just  and  liberal  terms,  instead  of  a 
redress  of  grievances,  have  produced,  from  an  imperious  and 
vindictive  administration,  increased  insult,  oppression,  and  a 
vigorous  attempt  to  effect  our  total  destruction.  By  a  late 
act,  all  these  colonies  are  declared  to  be  in  rebellion,  and  out 
of  the  protection  of  the  British  crown ;  our  properties  sub 
jected  to  confiscation ;  our  people,  when  captivated,  compelled 
to  join  in  the  murder  and  plunder  of  their  relations  and  coun 
trymen  ;  and  all  former  rapine  and  oppression  of  Americans 
declared  legal  and  just.  Fleets  and  armies  are  raised,  and 
the  aid  ot  foreign  troops  engaged  to  assist  these  destructive 
purposes.  The  king's  representative  in  this  colony  hath  not 
only  withheld  all  the  powers  of  government  from  opera 
ting  for  our  safety,  but,  having  retired  on  board  an  armed 
ship,  is  carrying  on  a  piratical  and  savage  war  against  us 
tempting  our  slaves,  by  every  artifice,  to  resort  to  him,  and 
training  and  employing  them  against  their  masters.  In  this 
state  of  extreme  danger,  we  have  no  alternative  left,  but  an 
abject  submission  to  the  will  of  those  overbearing  tyrants, 
or  a  total  separation  from  the  crown  and  government  of 
Great  Britain :  uniting  and  exerting  the  strength  of  all 
America  for  defence,  and  forming  alliances  with  foreign 
powers  for  commerce  and  aid  in  war.  Wherefore,  appealing 
to  the  Searcher  of  hearts  or  the  sincerity  of  former  declara 
tions,  expressing  our  desire  to  preserve  the  connexion  with 
that  nation,  and  that  we  are  driven  from  that  inclination 
by  their  wicked  councils,  and  the  eternal  laws  of  self-preser 
vation. 

**  Resolved,  unanimously,  That  the  delegates  appointed  to 
represent  this  colony  in  general  congress,  be  instructed  to 


PATRICK     HENRY.  213 

propose  to  that  respectable  body,  to  DECLARE  THE  UNITED 

COLONIES    FREE    AND    INDEPENDENT     STATES,     absolved    ffOIR 

all  allegiance  to,  or  dependance  upon,  the  crown  or  par 
liament  of  Great  Britain;  and  that  they  give  the  assent 
of  this  colony  to  such  declaration,  and  to  whatever  measures 
may  be  thought  proper  and  necessary  by  the  congress  for 
forming  foreign  alliances,  and  A  CONFEDERATION  OF  THE 
COLONIES,  at  such  time,  and  in  the  manner,  as  to  them  shall 
seem  best.  Provided,  that  the  power  of  forming  government 
for,  and  the  regulation  of,  the  internal  concerns  of  each  colony, 
be  left  to  the  respective  colonial  legislatures. 

"  Resolved,  unanimously,  That  a  committee  be  appointed 
to  prepare  A  DECLARATION  OF  RIGHTS,  and  such  a  plan 
of  government  as  will  be  most  likely  to  maintain  peace  and 
order  in  this  colony,  and  secure  substantial  and  equal  liberty 
to  the  people." 

This  measure  was  followed  by  the  most  lively  demonstra 
tions  of  joy.  The  spirit  of  the  times,  is  interestingly  mani 
fested  by  the  following  paragraph  from  Purdie's  paper  of 
the  17th  of  May,  which  immediately  succeeds  the  annuncia 
tion  of  the  resolutions  : — 

"  In  consequence  of  the  above  resolutions,  universally  re 
garded  as  the  only  door  which  will  lead  to  safety  and  pros 
perity,  some  gentlemen  made  a  handsome  collection  for  the 
purpose  of  treating  the  soldiery,  who  next  day  were  paraded 
in  Waller's  grove,  before  Brigadier-General  Lewis-,  attended 
by  the  gentlemen  of  the  committee  of  safety,  the  members 
of  the  general  convention,  the  inhabitants  of  this  city,  &c., 
&c.  The  resolutions  being  read  aloud  to  the  army,  the  fol 
lowing  toasts  were  given,  each  of  them  accompanied  by  a 
discharge  of  the  artillery  and  small  arms,  and  the  acclama 
tions  of  all  present: — 


214  WIRT'S    LIFE     OF 

"  1.  The  American  Independent  States. 

"  2.  The  grand  Congress  of  the  United  States,  and  their 
respective  legislatures. 

"3.  General  Washington,  and  victory  to  the  American 
arms. 

"  The  Union  Flag  of  the  American  states  waved  upon  the 
capitol  during  the  whole  of  this  ceremony;  which  being 
ended,  the  soldiers  partook  of  the  refreshments  prepared  for 
them  by  the  affection  of  their  countrymen,  and  the  evening 
concluded  with  illuminations,  and  other  demonstrations  of 
joy  ;  every  one  seeming  pleased  that  the  domination  of  Great 
Britain  was  now  at  an  end,  so  wickedly  and  tyrannically  ex 
ercised  for  these  twelve  or  thirteen  years  past,  notwithstand 
ing  our  repeated  prayers  and  remonstrances  for  redress." 

The  committee  appointed  to  prepare  the  declaration  and 
plan  of  government,  called  for  by  the  last  resolution,  were 
the  following : — Mr.  Archibald  Gary,  Mr.  Meriwether  Smith, 
Mr.  Mercer,  Mr.  Henry  Lee,  Mr.  Treasurer,  Mr.  Henry,  Mr. 
Dandridge,  Mr.  Gilmer,  Mr.  Bland,  Mr.  Digges,  Mr.  Carring- 
ton,  Mr.  Thomas  Ludwell  Lee,  Mr.  Cabell,  Mr.  Jones,  Mr. 
Blair,  Mr.  Fleming,  Mr.  Tazewell,  Mr.  Richard  Gary,  Mr. 
Bullitt,  Mr.  Watts,  Mr.  Banister,  Mr.  Page,  Mr.  Starke,  Mr. 
David  Mason,  Mr.  Adams,  Mr.  Read,  and  Mr.  Thomas 
Lewis ;  to  whom  were  afterward  successively  added,  Mr. 
Madison,  Mr.  Rutherford,  Mr.  Watkins,  Mr.  George  Mason, 
Mr.  Harvie,  Mr.  Curie,  and  Mr.  Holt. 

On  Wednesday,  the  12th  of  June  following,  that  declara 
tion  of  rights  which  stands  prefixed  to  our  statutes,  was 
reported  and  adopted  without  a  dissenting  voice ;  as  was 


PATRICK     HENRY.  215 

also,  on  Saturday,  the  29th  of  the  same  month,  the  present 
plan  of  our  government.* 

The  salary  of  the  governor  to  be  appointed  under  the  new 
constitution  was  immediately  fixed  by  a  resolution  of  the 
house  at  one  thousand  pounds  per  annum ;  and  the  house 
proceeded  to  elect  forthwith  the  first  republican  governor  for 
the  commonwealth  of  Virginia.  This  was  the  touchstone  of 
public  favour.  The  ofnce  was  of  the  first  importance ;  and 
the  whole  state  was  open  to  the  choice  of  the  house.  The 
question  was  decided  on  the  first  ballot.  The  vote  stood 

thus  : — 

For  Patrick  Henry,  jun.  Esq.     -     -     -  60 

Thomas  Nelson,  Esq.    -     -     -     -  45 

John  Page,  Esq.        .....  l 

*  The  striking  similitude  between  the  recital  of  wrongs  prefixed  to 
the  constitution  of  Virginia,  and  that  which  was  afterward  prefixed 
to  the  Declaration  of  Independence  cf  the  United  States,  is  of  itself 
sufficient  to  establish  the  fact  that  they  are  from  the  same  pen.  But 
the  constitution  of  Virginia  preceded  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
by  nearly  a  month ;  and  was  wholly  composed  and  adopted  while  Mr. 
Jefferson  is  known  to  have  been  out  of  the  state,  attending  the  session 
of  congress  at  Philadelphia.  From  these  facts  alone,  a  doubt  might 
naturally  arise  whether  he  was,  as  he  has  always  been  reputed,  the 
author  of  that  celebrated  instrument,  the  Declaration  of  American  In 
dependence,  or  at  least  the  recital  of  grievances  which  ushers  it  in ;  or 
whether  this  part  of  it,  at  least,  had  not  been  borrowed  from  the  pre 
amble  to  the  constitution  of  Virginia.  To  remove  this  doubt,  it  is  pro 
per  to  state,  that  there  now  exists  among  the  archives  of  this  state 
an  original  rough  draught  of  a  constitution  for  Virginia,  in  the  hand 
writing  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  containing  this  identical  preamble,  and  which 
was  forwarded  by  him  from  Philadelphia,  to  his  friend  Mr.  Wythe,  to 
be  submitted  to  the  committee  of  the  house  of  delegates.  The  body  of 
the  constitution  is  taken  principally  from  a  plan  proposed  by  Mr 
George  Mason ;  and  had  been  adopted  by  the  committee  before  the 


216  WIRT'S    LIFE     OF 

Whereupon  it  was  "  Resolved,  That  the  said  Patrick 
Henry,  jun.  Esq.,  be  governor  of  this  commonwealth,  to  con 
tinue  in  that  office  until  the  end  of  the  succeeding  session  of 
assembly  after  the  last  of  March  next ;  and  that  Mr.  Mason, 
Mr.  Henry  Lee,  Mr.  Digges,  Mr.  Blair,  and  Mr.  Dandridge, 
be  a  committee  to  wait  upon  him,  and  notify  such  appoint 
ment." 

On  Monday,  the  1st  of  July,  Mr.  George  Mason,  of  this 
committee,  reported,  that  they  had  performed  the  duty  as 
signed  them,  and  that  the  governor  had  been  pleased  to  re 
turn  the  following  answer  to  the  convention : — 

"  To  the  Honourable  the  President  and  House  of  Convention : 

"  Gentlemen, 

"  The  vote  of  this  day,  appointing  me  governor  of  the 
commonwealth,  has  been  notified  to  me  in  the  most  po 
lite  and  obliging  manner,  by  George  Mason,  Henry  Lee, 
Dudley  Digges,  John  Blair,  and  Bartholomew  Dandridge, 
esquires. 

"A  sense  of  the  high  and  unmerited  honour  conferred 
upon  me  by  the  convention,  fills  my  heart  with  gratitude, 
which  I  trust  my  whole  life  will  manifest.  I  take  this  earli 
est  opportunity  to  express  my  thanks,  which  I  wish  to  con 
vey  to  you,  gentlemen,  in  the  strongest  terms  of  acknow 
ledgment. 

"  When  I  reflect  that  the  tyranny  of  the  British  king  and 
parliament  hath  kindled  a  formidable  war,  now  raging 
throughout  this  wide-extended  continent,  and  in  the  opera 
tions  of  which  this  commonwealth  must  bear  so  great  a  part; ; 

arrival  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  plan  :  his  preamble,  however,  was  prefixed 
to  the  instrument ;  and  some  of  the  modifications  proposed  by  him 
introduced  into  the  body  of  it. 


PATRICK    HENRY.  217 

and  that,  from  the  events  of  this  war,  the  lasting  happiness 
or  misery  of  a  great  proportion  of  the  human  species  will 
finally  result ;  that,  in  order  to  preserve  this  commonwealth 
from  anarchy,  and  its  attendant  ruin,  and  to  give  vigour  to 
our  councils,  and  effect  to  all  our  measures,  government 
hath  been  necessarily  assumed,  and  new-modelled;  that 
it  is  exposed  to  numberless  hazards,  and  perils,  in  its  infan 
tine  state ;  that  it  can  never  attain  to  maturity,  or  ripen  into 
firmness,  unless  it  is  guarded  by  an  affectionate  assiduity, 
and  managed  by  great  abilities ;  I  lament  my  want  of  tal-' 
ents ;  I  feel  my  mind  filled  with  anxiety  and  uneasiness,  to 
find  myself  so  unequal  to  the  duties  of  that  important  sta 
tion,  to  which  I  am  called  by  the  favour  of  my  fellow-citizens 
at  this  truly  critical  conjuncture.  The  errors  of  my  conduct 
shall  be  atoned  for,  so  far  as  I  am  able,  by  unwearied  en 
deavours  to  secure  the  freedom  and  happiness  of  our  com 
mon  country. 

"  I  shall  enter  upon  the  duties  of  my  office,  whenever 
you,  gentlemen,  shall  be  pleased  to  direct ;  relying  upon  the 
known  wisdom  and  virtue  of  your  honourable  house  to  sup 
ply  my  defects,  and  to  give  permanency  and  success  to 
that  system  of  government  which  you  have  formed,  and 
which  is  so  wisely  calculated  to  secure  equal  liberty,  and  ad 
vance  human  happiness. 

"  I  have  the  honour  to  be,  gentlemen, 

"  your  most  obedient  and  very  humble  servant, 

"  P.  HENRY,  jun." 

Mr.  Henry  was  also  immediately  greeted  with  the  follow 
ing  affectionate  address,  from  the  two  regiments  which  he 
had  recently  commanded  : — 

?  E"  19 


218  WIRT'S     LIFE     OF 

"  To  his  excellency  Patrick  Henry,  jun.  Esq.,  governor  oj 
the  commonwealth  of  Virginia  : — The  humble  address  of 
the  first  and  second  Virginia  regiments  : — 

"  May  it  please  your  excellency, 

"  Permit  us,  with  the  sincerest  sentiments  of  respect  and 
joy,  to  congratulate  your  excellency  upon  your  unsolicited 
promotion  to  the  highest  honours  a  grateful  people  can  be 
stow. 

"Uninfluenced  by  private  ambition,  regardless  of  sordid 
interest,  you  have  uniformly  pursued  the  general  good  of 
your  country;  and  have  taught  the  world,  that  an  ingenu 
ous  love  of  the  rights  of  mankind,  an  inflexible  resolution,  and 
a  steady  perseverance  in  the  practice  of  every  private  and 
public  virtue,  lead  directly  to  preferment,  and  give  the  best 
title  to  the  honours  of  our  uncorrupted  and  vigorous  state. 

"  Once  happy  under  your  military  command,  we  hope  for 
more  extensive  blessings  from  your  civil  administration. 

"  Intrusted  as  your  excellency  is,  in  some  measure,  with 
the  support  of  a  young  empire,  our  hearts  are  willing,  and 
arms  ready,  to  maintain  your  authority  as  chief  magistrate; 
happy  that  we  have  lived  to  see  the  day,  when  freedom  and 
equal  rights,  established  by  the  voice  of  the  people,  shall  pre 
vail  through  the  land.  We  are,  may  it  please  your  excel* 
lency,  your  excellency's  most  devoted  and  most  obedient 
servants." 

To  which  he  returned  the  following  exquisite  answer : — 

"  Gentlemen  of  the  first  and  second  Virginia  regiments, 

"  Your  address  does  me  the  highest  honour.  Be  pleased 
to  accept  my  most  cordial  thanks  for  your  favourable  and 
kind  sentiments  of  my  principles  and  conduct. 


PATRICK   HENRY.  219 

"  The  high  appointment  to  which  my  fellow-citizens  have 
called  me,  was,  indeed,  unmerited,  unsolicited.  I  am,  there 
fore,  under  increased  obligations  to  promote  the  safety,  dig 
nity,  and  happiness  of  the  commonwealth. 

"While  the  civil  powers  are  employed  in  establishing  a 
system  of  government,  liberal,  equitable,  in  every  part  of 
which  the  genius  of  equal  liberty  breathes  her  blessed  influ 
ence,  to  you  is  assigned  the  glorious  task  of  saving,  by  your 
valour,  all  that  is  dear  to  mankind.  Go  on,  gentlemen,  to 
finish  the  great  work  you  have  so  nobly  and  successfully  be 
gun.  Convince  the  tyrants  again,  that  they  shall  bleed,  that 
America  will  bleed  to  her  last  drop,  ere  their  wicked  schemes 
find  success. 

"  The  remembrance  of  my  former  connexion  with  you 
shall  ever  be  dear  to  me.  I  honour  your  profession,  I  revere 
that  patriot  virtue,  which,  in  your  conduct,  hath  produced 
cheerful  obedience,  exemplary  courage,  and  contempt  of 
hardship  and  danger.  Be  assured,  gentlemen,  I  shall  feel  the 
highest  pleasure  in  embracing  every  opportunity  to  con 
tribute  to  your  happiness  and  welfare  ;  and  I  trust  the  day 
will  come,  when  I  shall  make  one  of  those  that  will  hail  you 
among  the  triumphant  deliverers  of  America. 
"  I  have  the  honour  to  be,  gentlemen, 

"  Your  most  obedient  and  very  humble  servant, 

"P.  HENRY,  jun."* 

*  When  it  is  said  that  Mr.  Henry  was  not  successful  as  a  writer, 
the  remark  must  be  understood  as  applicable  only  to  those  extended 
compositions  in  which  it  was  necessary  to  digest  and  arrange  a  mass 
of  arguments  with  skill  and  effect,  and  to  give  them  beauty  as  well 
as  order.  In  his  short  effusions,  when  excited  by  strong  feelings,  he 
was  sometimes  very  happy ;  of  which  the  above  answer  is  a  very 
pleasing  specimen. 


220  PATRICK     HENRY. 

The  first  council  appointed  under  the  constitution  were, 
John  Page,  Dudley  Digges,  John  Taylor,  John  Blair,  Ben 
jamin  Harrison,  of  Berkeley,  Bartholomew  Dandridge,  Thom 
as  Nelson,  and  Charles  Carter,  of  Shirley,  esquires.  Mr. 
Nelson  (the  same  gentleman  who  had  received  so  honour 
able  a  vote  as  governor)  declined  the  acceptance  of  the  office, 
on  account  of  his  age  and  infirmities ;  and  his  place  was 
supplied  by  Mr.  Benjamin  Harrison,  of  Brandon. 

The  governor's  palace,  together  with  the  out-buildings  be 
longing  to  it  in  Williamsburg,  having,  by  a  previous  reso 
lution,  been  appropriated  as  a  public  hospital,  was,  by  a  reso 
lution  of  the  first  of  July,  restored  to  its  original  destination ; 
and  the  committee  who  had  been  appointed  to  notify  the 
governor  of  his  election,  were  now  directed  to  inform  him  of 
the  desire  of  the  convention,  that  he  would  make  the  palace 
nis  place  of  residence.  On  the  fifth  of  July  the  sum  of  one 
thousand  pounds  was  directed  by  the  house,  to  be  laid  out  in 
furniture  for  the  palace,  including  the  furniture  already  there, 
belonging  to  the  country ;  and,  on  the  same  day,  the  govern 
or  and  members  of  the  privy  council  took  their  respective 
oaths  of  office,  and  entered  at  once  upon  the  discharge  of 
their  constitutional  duties. 


SECTION  VII 

SHORTLY  after  Mr.  Henry's  election  as  governor,  Lord 
Dunmore  was  driven  from  Gwinn's  island,  and  from  the 
state,  to  return  to  it  no  more  ;  and  Virginia  was  left  in  repose 
from  every  external  enemy.  No  opportunity,  therefore,  was 
afforded  to  the  governor  to  distinguish  himself  in  the  exer 
cise  of  that  important  constitutional  power  which  created 
him  ;he  commander-in-chief  of  the  forces  of  the  state.  Du 
ties,  however,  of  more  importance  than  lustre,  remained  for 
the  executive  of  the  state— in  keeping  up  the  ardour  of  the 
commonwealth  in  the  public  cause — in  furnishing  and  for 
warding  their  quota  of  military  supplies  to  the  grand  conti 
nental  army — in  awakening  the  spirit  of  the  state  to  the 
importance  of  discipline,  and  preparing  the  militia  for  the 
effectual  discharge  of  their  routine  of  duty — in  watching  and 
crushing  the  inHgues  of  the  tories  who  still  infested  the  state, 
and  went  about  clandestinely,  preaching  disaffection  to  the 
patriot  cause,  and  submission  to  Great  Britain — in  counter 
acting  the  schemes  of  speculating  monopolists  and  extor 
tioners,  who  sought  to  avail  themselves  of  the  necessities  of 
the  times,  and  to  grow  rich  by  preying  on  the  misfortunes  of 
the  people — in  short,  in  eradicating  and  removing  those 
numerous  moral  diseases,  which  spring  up  with  so  much 
fecundity,  and  flourish  so  luxuriantly,  amid  the  calamities  of 
a  revolution — and  in  keeping  the  body  politic  pure  and 
healthy  in  all  its  parts.  The  numerous  and  well-directed 
221  19* 


222  WIRT's    LIFE    OF 

proclamations  with  which  the  papers  of  the  day  abound,  at 
test  the  vigilance  and  energy  with  which  these  duties  were 
performed.  To  enter  upon  a  detail  of  them,  would  be  to 
write  the  history  of  Virginia  during  this  period,  instead  of  the 
life  of  Mr.  Henry  ;  a  work  wholly  unnecessary,  since  it  has 
been  already  executed  with  minuteness  and  fidelity  by  an 
elegant  writer,*  whose  work  will  probably  see  the  light  before 
these  sketches.  I  shall  confine  myself  to  a  few  prominent 
incidents  of  Mr.  Henry's  administration,  on  account  of  some 
of  which  a  degree  of  censure  has  been  unjustly,  I  think, 
attached  to  his  character. 

The  fall  of  the  year  1776  was  one  of  the  darkest  and  most 
dispiriting  periods  of  the  revolution.  The  disaster  at  Long 
Island  had  occurred,  by  which  a  considerable  portion  of  the 
American  army  had  been  cut  off — a  garrison  of  between 
three  and  four  thousand  men  had  been  taken  at  Fort  Wash 
ington — and  the  American  general,  with  the  small  remainder, 
disheartened,  and  in  want  of  every  kind  of  comfort,  was 
retreating  through  the  Jerseys  before  an  overwhelming  power, 
which  spread  terror,  desolation,  and  death,  on  every  hand. 
This  was  the  period  of  which  Paine,  in  his  Crisis,  used  that 
memorable  expression  : — "  These  are  the  times  which  try  the 
souls  of  men  !"  For  a  short  time  the  courage  of  the  country 
fell.  Washington  alone  remained  erect,  and  surveyed  with 
godlike  composure  the  storm  that  raged  around  him.  Even 
the  heroism  of  the  Virginia  legislature  gave  way ;  and,  in  a 
season  of  despair,  the  mad  project  of  a  dictator  was  seriously 
meditated.  That  Mr.  Henry  was  thought  of  for  this  office, 
has  been  alleged,  and  is  highly  probable ;  but  that  the  pro 
ject  was  suggested  by  him,  or  even  received  his  countenance. 

*Mr.  L.  H.  Girardin,  the  continuator  of  Burk's  History  of  Virginia. 


PATRICK     HENRY.  223 

J  have  met  with  no  one  who  will  venture  to  affirm.  There 
is  a  tradition  that  Col.  Archibald  Gary,  the  speaker  of  the 
senate,  was  principally  instrumental  in  crushing  this  project ; 
that  meeting  Col.  Syme,  the  step-brothei  of  Col.  Henry,  in 
the  lobby  of  the  house,  he  accosted  him  very  fiercely  in  terms 
like  these  : — "  I  am  told  that  your  brother  wishes  to  be  dic 
tator  :  tell  him  from  me,  that  the  day  of  his  appointment 
shall  be  the  day  of  his  death — for  he  shall  feel  my  dagger 
in  his  heart  before  the  sunset  of  that  day :"  and  the  tradition 
adds,  that  Col.  Syme,  in  great  agitation,  declared,  "  that  if 
such  a  project  existed,  his  brother  had  no  hand  in  it,  for  that 
nothing  could  be  more  foreign  to  him,  than  to  countenance 
any  office  which  could  endanger,  in  the  most  distant  manner, 
the  liberties  of  his  country." 

The  intrepidity  and  violence  of  Col.  Gary's  character  ren 
ders  the  tradition  probable ;  but  it  furnishes  no  proof  of  Mr. 
Henry's  implication  in  the  scheme.  It  is  most  certain,  that 
both  himself  and  his  friends  have  firmly  and  uniformly  per 
sisted  in  asserting  his  innocence ;  and  there  seems  to  be 
neither  candour  or  justice  in  imputing  to  him,  without  evi 
dence,  a  scheme  which  might  just  as  well  have  originated  in 
the  assembly  itself.  It  was  not  more  than  a  month  after 
ward,  that  congress  actually  did,  with  relation  to  General 
Washington,  very  nearly  what  the  Virginia  legislature  are 
said  to  have  contemplated  in  regard  to  Mr.  Henry ;  they 
invested  him  with  powers  very  little  short  of  dictatorial :  yet 
no  one  ever  suspected  General  Washington  of  having  prompt 
ed  the  measure.  Why  then  shall  Mr.  Henry  be  suspected  ? 
Neither  General  Washington  himself,  nor  any  other  patriot, 
had  maintained  the  principles  of  the  revolution  with  more 
consistency  and  uniformity  than  Patrick  Henry;  and  it  wilJ 


224  WIRT'S    LIFE    OF 

certainly  never  satisfy  a  fair  inquirer,  to  attempt  to  balance 
a  suspicion,  without  the  shadow  of  proof,  against  the  whole 
course  of  a  long  and  patriotic  life.  The  charge,  moreover, 
seems  preposterous.  What  advantage  could  a  rational  man 
promise  himself  from  the  dictatorship  of  a  single  state,  em 
barked  with  twelve  other  sovereign  and  independent  states, 
in  one  common  cause ;  a  cause,  too,  now  so  well  understood 
by  the  whole  body  of  the  American  people,  and  in  which 
all  their  souls  were  so  intensely  engaged?  The  man  who 
was  at  the  head  of  the  armies  of  the  union,  might  have 
played  the  part  of  Cesar  or  Cromwell,  had  he  possessed 
their  wicked  spirit ;  but  what  could  the  dictator  of  a  single 
state  do,  and  that,  too,  a  state  of  firm  and  enlightened 
patriots  1 

It  is  impossible  to  believe  that  the  legislature  themselves 
could  have  entertained  a  doubt  of  Mr,  Henry's  innocence ; 
since  at  the  next  annual  election  for  governor,  which  took 
place  on  the  30th  of  May,  1777,  he  was  re-elected  unani 
mously  ;  the  house  being  composed  of  nearly  the  same 
members,  and  the  same  Colonel  Gary  being  speaker  of  the 
senate.  This  honourable  proof  of  confidence,  by  those  who 
best  knew  the  whole  case — who  watched,  with  a  scrutiny 
so  severely  jealous,  the  conduct  of  our  prominent  men — and 
among  whom  were  some  who  derived  no  pleasure  from  the 
public  honours  of  Mr.  Henry — will  be  decisive  of  this  ques 
tion,  with  every  man  who  is  dispassionately  searching  for 
the  truth,  and  is  willing  to  find  it. 

This  very  honourable  mark  of  the  confidence  of  the  legis 
lature,  in  re-electing  him  unanimously  to  the  office  of  gover 
nor,  affected  Mr.  Henry  most  sensibly  ;  and  to  the  committee 
who  announced  it  to  h/m,  he  gave  the  following  answer : — 


PATRICK     HENRY.  225 

"  Gentlemen, 

"The  signal  honour  conferred  on  me  by  the  general 
assembly  in  their  choice  of  me  to  be  the  governor  of  this 
commonwealth,  demands  my  best  acknowledgments,  which 
I  beg  the  favour  of  you  to  convey  to  them  in  the  most  ac 
ceptable  manner. 

"  I  shall  execute  the  duties  of  that  high  station,  to  which 
I  am  again  called  by  the  favour  of  my  fellow-citizens,  accord 
ing  to  the  best  of  my  abilities,  and  I  shall  rely  upon  the 
candour  and  wisdom  of  the  assembly,  to  excuse  and  supply 
my  defects.  The  good  of  the  commonwealth  shall  be  the 
only  object  of  my  pursuit,  and  I  shall  measure  my  happiness 
according  to  the  success  which  shall  attend  my  endeavours 
to  establish  the  public  liberty.  I  beg  to  be  presented  to  the 
assembly ;  and  that  they  and  you  will  be  assured,  that  I  am, 
with  every  sentiment  of  the  highest  regard,  their  and  your 
most  obedient  and  very  humble  servant, 

"  P.  HENRY." 

It  was  in  the  course  of  this  year's  administration  of  the 
government  by  Mr.  Henry,  that  that  memorable  plot  which 
disgraces  our  history,  was  formed  to  supplant  General  Wash 
ington.  This  is  said  to  have  proceeded  from  the  glory  which 
General  Gates  had  gained  by  the  capture  of  Burgoyne  and 
his  army  at  Saratoga,  and  was  believed  to  have  been  sug 
gested  by  General  Gates  himself.  The  plot  is  said  to  have 
been  an  extensive  one,  and  to  have  embraced  some  of  the 
members  of  congress,  and  many  officers  of  the  army.  The 
high  estimate  which  Mr.  Henry  had  formed  of  the  abilities 
of  General  Washington,  while  that  illustrious  man  was  com 
paratively  unknown  to  his  countrymen,  has  been  already 
stated.  This  estimate,  instead  of  having  been  lowered,  had 
2F 


226  WIRT   8    LIFE  OF 

been  confirmed  and  raised  by  subsequent  events.  Mr.  Henry 
was  too  cool  and  judicious  an  observer  of  events,  to  have  im 
puted  to  the  commander-in-chief  the  disasters  of  the  autumn 
of  1776.  His  masterly  retreat  through  the  Jerseys,  the  bril 
liant  strokes  of  generalship  exhibited  at  Trenton  and  Prince 
ton,  and  above  all,  that  singular  constancy  of  soul  with 
which  he  braved  adversity,  had  excited  his  grateful  admira 
tion,  and  established  Washington  in  his  heart  as  one  of  the 
first  of  human  beings.  He  not  only  admired  him  as  a  gen 
eral,  but  revered  him  as  a  patriot,  and  loved  him  as  a  friend. 
Feeling  for  General  Washington  sentiments  like  these,  the 
reader  may  judge  of  the  indignation  and  horror  with  which 
he  read  the  following  anonymous  letter,  addressed  to  him  by 
one  of  the  conspirators  against  that  father  of  his  country  : — 

"  Yorktown,  January  12th,  1778. 
"  Dear  Sir, 

"The  common  danger  of  our  country  first  brought  you 
and  me  together.  I  recollect  with  pleasure  the  influence  of 
your  conversation  and  eloquence  upon  the  opinions  of  this 
country,  in  the  beginning  of  the  present,  controversy.  You 
first  taught  us  to  shake  off  our  idolatrous  attachment  to 
royalty,  and  to  oppose  its  encroachments  upon  our  liberties, 
with  our  very  lives.  By  these  means  you  saved  us  from 
ruin.  The  independence  of  America  is  the  offspring  of  that 
liberal  spirit  of  thinking  and  acting  which  followed  the 
destruction  of  the  sceptres  of  kings,  and  the  mighty  power 
of  Great  Britain. 

"  But,  sir,  we  have  only  passed  the  Red  sea.  A  dreary 
wilderness  is  still  before  us,  and  unless  a  Moses  or  a  Joshua 
are  raised  up  in  our  behalf,  we  must  perish  before  we  reach 
the  promised  land.  We  have  nothing  to  fear  from  our 


PATRICK     HENRY.  227 

enemies  on  the  way.  General  Howe,  it  is  true,  has  taken 
Philadelphia;  but  he  has  only  changed  his  prison.  His 
dominions  are  bounded  on  all  sides,  by  his  out-sentries. 
America  can  only  be  undone  by  herself.  She  looks  up  to 
her  councils  and  arms  for  protection ;  but  alas !  what  are 
they  ?  Her  representation  in  congress  dwindled  to  only 
twenty-one  members — her  Adams — her  Wilson — her  Henry, 
are  no  more  among  them.  Her  councils  weak — and  partial 
remedies  applied  constantly  for  universal  diseases.  Her 
army — what  is  it  ?  a  major-general  belonging  to  it,  called  it 
a  few  days  ago,  in  my  hearing,  a  mob.  Discipline  unknown 
or  wholly  neglected.  The  quarter-master  and  commissary's 
departments  filled  with  idleness,  ignorance,  and  peculation 
--our  hospitals  crowded  with  six  thousand  sick,  but  half 
provided  with  necessaries  or  accommodations,  and  more 
dying  in  them  in  one  month,  than  perished  in  the  field  during 
the  whole  of  the  last  campaign.  The  money  depreciating, 
without  any  effectual  measures  being  taken  to  raise  it — 
the  country  distracted  with  the  Don  Quixote  attempts  to 
regulate  the  price  of  provisions — an  artificial  famine  created 
by  it,  and  a  real  one  dreaded  from  it — the  spirit  of  the  people 
failing  through  a  more  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  causes 
of  our  misfortunes — many  submitting  daily  to  General  Howe 
— and  more  wishing  to  do  it,  only  to  avoid  the  calamities 
which  threaten  our  country.  But  is  our  case  desperate  ?  by 
no  means.  We  have  wisdom,  virtue,  and  strength  enough  to 
save  us,  if  they  could  be  called  into  action.  The  northern 
army  has  shown  us  what  Americans  are  capable  of  doing, 
with  a  general  at  their  head.  The  spirit  of  the  southern 
army  is  no  way  inferior  to  the  spirit  of  the  northern.  A 
Gates,  a  Lee,  or  a  Conway,  would  in  a  few  weeks  render 
them  an  irresistible  body  of  men  The  last  of  the  above 


228  WIRT'S    LIFE    OF 

officers  has  accepted  of  the  new  office  of  inspector-general  ot 
our  army,  in  order  to  reform  abuses ;  but  the  remedy  is  only 
a  palliative  one.  In  one  of  his  letters  to  a  friend,  he  says, 
*a  great  and  good  God  hath  decreed  America  to  be  free — or 
the  ******  and  weak  counsellors,  would  have 
ruined  her  long  ago.'  You  may  rest  assured  of  each  of  the 
facts  related  in  this  letter.  The  author  of  it  is  one  of  your 
Philadelphia  friends.  A  hint  of  his  name,  if  found  out  by 
the  handwriting,  must  not  be  mentioned  to  your  most  inti 
mate  friend.  Even  the  letter  must  be  thrown  in  the  fire. 
But  some  of  its  contents  ought  to  be  made  public,  in  order 
to  awaken,  enlighten,  and  alarm  our  country.  I  rely  upon 
your  prudence,  and  am,  dear  sir,  with  my  usual  attachment 
to  you,  and  to  our  beloved  independence,  yours  sincerely. 
"  His  Excellency  P.  Henry." 

Mr.  Henry  did  not  hesitate  a  moment  as  to  the  course 
which  it  was  proper  for  him  to  take  with  this  perfidious  let 
ter  :  he  enclosed  it  forthwith  to  General  Washington,  in  the 
following  frank  and  high-minded  communication : — 

"  Williamsburg,  February  20,  1778. 
"Dear  Sir, 

"  You  will,  no  doubt,  be  surprised  at  seeing  the  enclosed 
letter,  in  which  the  encomiums  bestowed  on  me  are  as  un 
deserved,  as  the  censures  aimed  at  you  are  unjust.  I  am 
sorry  there  should  be  one  man  who  counts  himself  my  friend, 
who  is  not  yours. 

"  Perhaps  I  give  you  needless  trouble  in  handing  you  this 
paper.  The  writer  of  it  may  be  too  insignificant  to  deserve 
any  notice.  If  I  knew  this  to  be  the  case,  I  should  not  have 
intruded  on  your  time,  which  is  so  precious.  But  there  may 


PATRICK    HENRY.  229 

possibly  be  some  scheme  or  party  forming  to  your  prejudice. 
The  enclosed  leads  to  such  a  suspicion.  Believe  me,  sir,  I 
have  too  high  a  sense  of  the  obligations  America  has  to  you, 
to  abet  or  countenance  so  unworthy  a  proceeding.  The  most 
exalted  merit  hath  ever  been  found  to  attract  envy.  But  I 
please  myself  with  the  hope,  that  the  same  fortitude  and 
greatness  of  mind  which  have  hitherto  braved  all  the  diffi 
culties  and  dangers  inseparable  from  your  station,  will  rise 
superior  to  every  attempt  of  the  envious  partisan. 

"  I  really  cannot  tell  who  is  the  writer  of  this  letter,  which 
not  a  little  perplexes  me.  The  handwriting  is  altogether 
strange  to  me. 

"  To  give  you  the  trouble  of  this  gives  me  pain.  It  would 
suit  my  inclination  better  to  give  you  some  assistance  in  the 
great  business  of  the  war.  But  I  will  not  conceal  any  thing 
from  you  by  which  you  may  be  affected ;  for  I  really  think, 
your  personal  welfare  and  the  happiness  of  America  are 
intimately  connected.  I  beg  you  will  be  assured  of  that  high 
regard  and  esteem,  with  which  I  ever  am,  dear  sir,  your 
affectionate  friend  and  very  humble  servant, 

"  P.  HENRY. 

"  His  Excellency  General  Washington.19 

Not  having  received  any  answer  to  this  letter,  and  being 
filled  with  solicitude  by  the  wicked  conspiracy,  he  again 
wrote  to  General  Washington;  as  follows : — 

"  Williamsbiirg,  March  5th,  1778. 
"  Dear  Sir, 

"By  an  express  which  Colonel  Finnic  sent  to  camp,  I 
enclosed  you  an  anonymous  letter,  which  I  hope  got  safe  to 
hand.  1  am  anxious  to  hear  something  that  will  serve  to 

20 


230  WIRT'S     LIFE     OF 

explain  the  strange  affair,  which  I  am  now  informed  is  taken 
up  respecting  you.  Mr.  Custis  has  just  paid  us  a  visit,  and 
by  him  I  learn  sundry  particulars  concerning  General  Mifflin, 
that  much  surprised  me.  It  is  very  hard  to  trace  the  schemes 
and  windings  of  the  enemies  to  America.  I  really  thought 
that  man  its  friend  :  however,  I  am  too  far  from  him  to 
judge  of  his  present  temper. 

"  While  you  face  the  armed  enemies  of  our  liberty  in  the 
field,  and  by  the  favour  of  God,  have  been  kept  unhurt,  I 
trust  your  country  will  never  harbour  in  her  bosom  the  mis 
creant  who  would  ruin  her  best  supporter.  I  wish  not  to 
flatter ;  but  when  arts,  unworthy  honest  men,  are  used  to 
defame  and  traduce  you,  I  think  it  not  amiss,  but  a  duty,  to 
assure  you  of  that  estimation  in  which  the  public  hold  you. 
Not  that  I  think  any  testimony  I  can  bear  is  necessary  for 
your  support,  or  private  satisfaction  ;  for  a  bare  recollection 
of  what  is  past  must  give  you  sufficient  pleasure  in  every 
circumstance  of  life.  But  I  cannot  help  assuring  you,  on 
this  occasion,  of  the  high  sense  of  gratitude  which  all  ranks 
of  men,  in  this  your  native  country,  bear  to  you.  It  will  give 
me  sincere  pleasure  to  manifest  my  regards,  and  render  my 
best  services  to  you  or  yours.  I  do  not  like  to  make  a 
parade  of  these  things,  and  I  know  you  are  not  fond  of  it : 
However,  I  hope  the  occasion  will  plead  my  excuse. 

"  The  assembly  have,  at  length,  empowered  the  executive 
here,  to  provide  the  Virginia  troops  serving  with  you  with 
clothes,  &c.  I  am  making  provision  accordingly,  and  hope 
to  do  something  toward  it.  Every  possible  assistance  from 
government  is  afforded  the  commissary  of  provisions,  whose 
department  has  not  been  attended  to.  It  was  taken  up  by 
me  too  late  to  do  much.  Indeed,  the  load  of  business  de 
volved  on  me  is  too  great  to  be  managed  well.  A  French 


PA  TRICK     HENRY.  231 

ship   mounting  thirty  guns,  that  has  been  long  chased  by  the 
English  cruisers,  has  got  into  Carolina,  as  I  hear  last  night. 
"  Wishing  you  all  possible  felicity,  I  am,  my  dear  sir, 
"  Your  ever  affectionate  friend, 

"  And  very  humble  servant, 

"  P.  HENRY. 
"  His  Excellency  General  Washington? 

In  reply,  Mr.  Henry  received,  shortly  afterward  the  two 
following  very  cordial  letters  from  the  general : — 

"  Valley  Forge,  March  27th,  1778. 
"  Dear  Sir, 

"  About  eight  days  past,  I  was  honoured  with  your  favour 
of  the  20th  ultimo.  Your  friendship,  sir,  in  transmitting  me 
the  anonymous  letter  you  had  received,  lays  me  under  the 
most  grateful  obligations ;  and,  if  any  thing  could  give  a  still 
further  claim  to  my  acknowledgments,  it  is  the  very  polite 
and  delicate  terms  in  which  you  have  been  pi  to  make 

the  communication. 

"I  have  ever  "been  happy  in  supposing  that  I  held  a 
place  in  your  esteem,  and  the  proof  of  it  you  have  afforded 
on  this  occasion  makes  me  peculiarly  so.  The  favourable 
light  in  which  you  hold  me  is  truly  flattering;  but  I  should 
feel  much  regret  if  I  thought  the  happiness  of  America  so 
intimately  connected  with  my  personal  welfare,  as  you 
obligingly  seem  to  consider  it.  All  I  can  say  is,  that  she 
has  ever  had,  and  I  trust  she  ever  will  have,  my  honest 
exertions  to  promote  her  interest.  I  cannot  hope  that  my 
services  have  been  the  best,  but  my  heart  tells  me  they 
have  been  the  best  that  I  could  render. 

"That  I  may  have  erred  in  using  the  means  in  my  power 


232  WIRT'S    LIFE    OF 

for  accomplishing  the  objects  of  the  arduous,  exalted  station 
with  which  I  am  honoured,  I  cannot  doubt ;  nor  do  1  wish 
my  conduct  to  be  exempted  from  the  reprehension  it  may 
deserve.  Error  is  the  portion  of  humanity,  and  to  censure  it, 
whether  committed  by  this  or  that  public  character,  is  the 
prerogative  of  freemen. 


"  This  is  not  the  only  secret,  insidious  attempt  that  has 
been  made  to  wound  my  reputation.  There  have  been 
others  equally  base,  cruel,  and  ungenerous ;  because  con 
ducted  with  as  little  frankness,  and  proceeding  from  views, 
perhaps,  as  personally  interested. 

"  I  am,  dear  sir,  &c. 

"  GEO.  WASHINGTON. 
"  To  his  Excellency  Patrick  Henry,  Esq., 
"  Governor  of  Virginia" 


"  Camp,  March  28th.  1778. 
"  Dear  Sir, 

"  Just  as  I  was  about  to  close  my  letter  of  yesterday, 
your  favour  of  the  5th  instant  came  to  hand.  I  can  only 
thank  you  again  in  the  language  of  the  most  undissembled 
gratitude  for  your  friendship,  and  assure  you,  the  indulgent 
disposition  which  Virginia  in  particular,  and  the  states  in 
general,  entertain  towards  me,  gives  me  the  most  sensible 
pleasure.  The  approbation  of  my  country  is  what  I  wish  ; 
and  as  far  as  my  abilities  and  opportunity  will  permit,  I  hope 
I  shall  endeavour  to  deserve  it.  It  is  the  highest  reward  to 


PATRICK     HENRY.  233 

a  feeling  mind  ;    and  happy  are  they  who  so  conduct  them 
selves  as  to  merit  it. 

"  The  anonymous  letter  with  which  you  were  pleased  to 
favour  me,  was  written  by  *  *  *  *  so  far  as  I  can 

judge  from  the  similitude  of  hands.     *         *         *         * 

*         *         *         * 

"  My  caution  to  avoid  every  thing  that  could  injure  the 
service,  prevented  me  from  communicating,  except  to  a  very 
few  of  my  friends,  the  intrigues  of  a  faction  which  I  knew 
was  formed  against  me,  since  it  might  serve  to  publish  our 
internal  dissensions ;  but  their  own  restless  zeal  to  advance 
their  views  has  too  clearly  betrayed  them,  and  made  conceal 
ment  on  my  part  fruitless.  I  cannot  precisely  mark  the 
extent  of  their  views ;  but  it  appeared,  in  general,  that 
General  Gates  was  to  be  exalted  on  the  ruin  of  my  reputation 
and  influence.  This  I  am  authorized  to  say  from  undeniable 
facts  in  my  own  possession — from  publications,  the  evident 
scope  of  which  could  not  be  mistaken — and  from  private 
detractions  industriously  circulated.  *  *  *  *  *,  it  is  com 
monly  supposed,  bore  the  second  part  in  the  cabal;  and 
General  Conway,  I  know,  was  a  very  active  and  malignant 
partisan ;  but  I  have  good  reason  to  believe,  that  their 
machinations  have  recoiled  most  sensibly  upon  themselves. 
*  I  am,  dear  sir,  &c., 

"  GEO.  WASHINGTON. 
"  His  Excellency  Patrick  Henry,  Esq., 
"  Governor  of  Virginia." 

The  plot  did  recoil  on  its  contrivers,  and  left  General 
Washington  more  firmly  established  than  ever  in  the  confi 
dence  of  his  countrymen. 

2  G  20* 


234  WIRT  S     LIFE     OF 

At  the  spring  session  of  1778,  Mr.  Henry  was  again 
unanimously  re-elected  to  the  office  of  governor.  Mr.  Jef 
ferson,  Mr.  Dandridge,  and  Mr.  Page,  the  committee 
appointed  to  announce  to  him  that  event,  received  and 
reported  the  following  answer: — 

"  Gentlemen, 

"  The  general  assembly  in  again  electing  me  governor  of 
this  commonwealth,  have  done  me  very  signal  honour.  I 
trust  that  their  confidence  thus  continued  in  me,  will  not  be 
misplaced. 

"I  beg  you  will  be  pleased,  gentlemen,  to  present  me  to 
the  general  assembly,  in  terms  of  grateful  acknowledgment 
for  this  fresh  instance  of  their  favour  toward  me  ;  and  to 
assure  them,  that  my  best  endeavours  shall  be  used  to  pro 
mote  the  public  good,  in  that  station  to  which  they  have 
once  more  been  pleased  to  call  me." 

At  this  same  session  an  act  was  passed,  on  account  of 
which  both  Mr.  Henry  and  the  legislature  have  been,  it  is 
thought,  improperly  censured.  I  mean  the  act  to  attaint 
Josiah  Philips.  This  man,  in  the  summer  of  1777,  at  the 
head  of  a  banditti,  commenced  a  course  of  crimes  in  the 
counties  of  Norfolk  and  Princess  Anne,  which  spread  terror 
and  consternation  on  every  hand.  Availing  himself  of  the 
disaffection  which  prevailed  in  that  quarter,  and  taking 
refuge  from  occasional  pursuit  in  the  fastnesses  of  the 
Dismal  Swamp,  he  had  carried  on  a  species  of  war  against 
the  innocent  and  defenceless,  at  the  bare  mention  of  which 
humanity  shudders.  Scarcely  a  night  passed  without  wit 
nessing  the  shrieks  of  women  and  children,  flying  by  the 
light  of  their  own  burning  houses,  from  the  assaults  of  these 
merciless  wretches  ;  and  every  day  was  marked  by  the  deso- 


PATRICK     HENRY.  235 

lation  of  some  farm,  by  robberies  on  the  highway,  or  the 
assassination  of  some  individual  whose  patriotism  had 
incurred  the  displeasure  of  this  fierce  and  bloody  leader  of 
banditti.  Every  attempt  to  take  them  had  hitherto  proved 
abortive;  when,  in  May,  1778,  the  governor  received  the 
following  letter  from  Col.  John  Wilson : — 

"Norfolk  County,  May  20th,  1778.  . 
"Honourable  Sir, 

"I  received  your  letter  the  14th  inst.  of  the  12th  April, 
respecting  the  holding  of  the  militia  in  readiness,  and  my 
attention  to  the  arms  and  accoutrements,  which  I  shall 
endeavour  to  comply  with  as  far  as  in  my  power :  that 
much,  however,  may  not  be  expected  from  this  county,  I  beg 
to  observe,  that  the  militia,  of  late,  fail  much  in  appearing  at 
musters,  submitting  to  the  trifling  fine  of  five  shillings,  which, 
they  argue,  they  can  afford  to  pay,  by  earning  more  at  home ; 
but  I  have  reason  to  fear,  through  dissaffection.  With  such 
a  set  of  men,  it  is  impossible  to  render  any  service  to  country 
or  county.  A  few  days  since,  hearing  of  the  ravages  com 
mitted  by  Philips  and  his  notorious  gang,  I  ordered  fifty  men 
to  be  raised  out  of  four  companies,  consisting  of  upward  of 
two  hundred :  of  those  only  ten  appeared,  and  it  being  at  a 
private  muster,  I  compelled  twenty  others  into  duty,  putting 
them  under  the  command  of  Capt.  Josiah  Wilson,  who 
immediately  marched  after  the  insurgents ;  and  that  very 
night,  one  fourth  of  his  men  deserted.  Capt.  Wilson  still 
pursued,  but  to  no  purpose  :  they  were  either  taken  to  their 
secret  places  in  the  swamp,  or  concealed  by  their  friends, 
that  no  intelligence  could  be  obtained.  He  then  returned, 
his  men  declaring  they  could  stay  no  longer,  on  account 
of  their  crops.  I  considered,  therefore,  that  rather  than 


236  WIRT'S    LIFE     OF 

that  they  should  wholly  desert,  it  might  be  better  to 
discharge  them,  and  wait  the  coming  of  the  Nansemond 
militia,  when  I  trusted  something  might  be  done :  but  of 
those  men  I  can  hear  no  tidings  ;  and  unless  they  or  some 
other  better  men  do  come,  it  will  be  out  of  my  power  to 
effect  any  thing  with  the  militia  of  this  county ;  for  such  is 
their  cowardly  disposition,  joined  to  their  disaffection,  that 
scarce  a  man,  without  being  forced,  can  be  raised  to  go  after 
the  outlyers.  We  have  lost  Capt.  Wilson  since  his  return : 
having  some  private  business  at  a  neighbour's,  within  a  mile 
of  his  own  house,  he  was  fired  on  by  four  men  concealed  in 
the  house,  and  wounded  in  such  a  manner  that  he  died  in 
a  few  hours ;  and  this  will  surely  be  the  fate  of  a  few  others, 
if  their  request  of  the  removal  of  the  relations  and  friends  of 
those  villains  be  not  granted,  which  I  am  again  pressed  to 
solicit  for,  and  in  which  case  neither  assistance,  pay,  nor 
plunder,  is  expected  ;  conceiving  that  to  distress  their  sup 
porters  is  the  only  means  by  which  we  can  root  those 
wretches  from  us,  and  thereby  establish  peace  and  security 
to  ourselves  and  families. 

"  I  am,  with  great  respect, 
"  Honourable  sir, 

"  Your  most  obedient  humble  servant, 
"  JOHN  WILSON." 

"May  24. 

"  A  company  of  about  fifty  men  are  now  come  from  Nan 
semond;  but  I  am  informed  by  the  captain,  that  they  will 
not  be  kept  above  two  days,  five  having  deserted  already. 

"JNO.  WILSON." 

The  governor  immediately  enclosed  this  letter  to  iho 
house  of  delegates,  with  the  following  communication  : — 


PATRICK    HENRY.  237 

"  Tht  Honourable  Benjamin  Harrison,  Esq ,  Speaker  of 
the  House  of  Delegates. 

"  Williamsburg,  May  27,  1778. 
"  Sir, 

"  I  was  always  unwilling  to  trouble  the  general  assembly 
with  any  thing  that  seemed  of  too  little  consequence  for 
deliberation.  In  that  view  I  have  for  some  time  considered 
the  insurrection  in  Princess  Anne  and  Norfolk.  I  have  from 
time  to  time  given  orders  to  the  commanding  officers  of  those 
counties,  to  draw  from  the  militia  a  force  sufficient  to  quell 
it.  These  officers  have  often  complained  of  the  difficulty 
of  the  business,  arising  partly  from  the  local  circumstances 
attending  it,  but  chiefly  from  the  backwardness  and  even 
disaffection  of  the  people.  In  order  to  remove  the  latter 
obstacle,  I  gave  orders  for  one  hundred  men  to  be  drawn  out 
into  this  service,  from  Nansemond  county ;  but  I  am  sorry 
to  say,  the  almost  total  want  of  discipline  in  that  and  too 
many  other  militias  in  the  state,  seems  to  forbid  the  hope  of 
their  doing  much  to  effect. 

**  Col.  Wilson,  whose  letter  I  enclose,  has  several  times 
given  me  to  understand,  that,  in  his  opinion,  the  removal  of 
such  families  as  are  in  league  with  the  insurgents,  was  a  step 
absolutely  necessary,  and  has  desired  me  to  give  orders 
accordingly.  But  thinking  that  the  executive  power  is  not 
competent  to  such  a  purpose,  I  must  beg  leave  to  submit  the 
whole  matter  to  the  assembly,  who  are  the  only  judges  how 
far  the  methods  of  proceeding  directed  by  law  are  to  be 
dispensed  with  on  this  occasion. 

"  A  company  of  regulars,  drawn  from  the  several  stations, 
will  be  ordered  to  co-operate  with  the  militia,  though  indeed 
their  scanty  numbers  will  not  permit  it  to  be  done  without 


238  WIRTS     LIFE     OF 

hazard.  But  I  cannot  help  thinking  this  ought  to  be 
encountered;  for  an  apparent  disposition  to  disturb  the 
peace  of  this  state  has  been  manifested  by  these  people 
during  the  whole  course  of  the  present  war.  It  seems, 
therefore,  that  no  effort  to  crush  these  desperadoes  should 
be  spared. 

"  My  duty  would  no  longer  suffer  me  to  withhold  these 
several  matters  from  the  view  of  the  general  assembly,  to 
whom  I  beg  leave  to  refer  them  through  you. 
"  With  great  regard, 

"  I  have  the  honour  to  be,  sir, 

"  Your  most  obedient  humble  servant, 

"  P.  HENRY." 

This  letter  was  communicated  to  the  house  on  the  day  of 
its  date,  and  was  immediately  referred  to  a  committee  of  the 
whole  house,  on  the  state  of  the  commonwealth.  That 
committee  was  immediately  formed ;  but  not  having  time  to 
go  through  the  subject,  had  leave  to  sit  again.  On  the  next 
day  the  house  again  resolved  itself  into  a  committee  of  the 
whole,  and  after  some  time  spent  therein,  the  speaker  ic- 
sumed  the  chair,  and  Mr.  Carter  reported  on  the  subject  of 
Philips,  as  follows : — 

"  Information  being  received,  that  a  certain 
Philips,  with  divers  others,  his  associates  and  confederates, 
have  levied  war  against  this  commonwealth  within  the  counties 
of  Norfolk  and  Princess  Anne,  committing  murders,  burn 
ing  houses,  wasting  farms,  and  doing  other  acts  of  enormity, 
in  defiance  of  the  officers  of  justice — 

"  Resolved,  That  it  is  the  opinion  of  this  committee,  that 
if  the  said  Philips,  his  associates,  and  confede 

rates,  do  not  render  themselves  to  some  officer,  civil  or  mill- 


PATRICK     HENRY.  239 

tary,  within  this  commonwealth,  on  or  before  day 

of  June,  in  this  present  year,  such  of  them  as  fail  so  to  do, 
ought  to  be  attainted  of  high  treason ;  and  that,  in  the  mean 
time,  and  before  such  render,  it  shall  be  lawful  for  any 
person,  with  or  without  orders,  to  pursue  and  slay,  or  other 
wise  to  take  and  deliver  to  justice,  the  said  Philips, 
his  associates  and  confederates." 

Mr.  Jefferson,  Mr.  Smith,  and  Mr.  Tyler,  were  the  com 
mittee  appointed  to  prepare  and  bring  in  a  bill,  pursuant  to 
this  resolution,  which  was  reported  on  the  same  day,  and 
read  the  first  time.  On  the  two  succeeding  days  it  was 
read  a  second  and  third  time  ;  and  thus  regularly  passed 
through  the  forms  of  the  lower  house.  It  was  communicated 
to  the  senate  by  Mr.  Jefferson,  on  the  30th  day  of  the 
month,  and  returned,  passed  by  them,  without  amendment, 
on  the  first  day  of  June,  which  was  the  last  day  of  the 
session.  The  act,  as  it  stands  upon  the  statute  book  of  the 
session,  is  as  follows  : — 

"An  act  to  attaint  Josiah  Philips  and  others,  unless  they 
render  themselves  to  justice  within  a  certain  time. 

"Whereas  a  certain  Josiah  Philips,  labourer,  of  the 
parish  of  Lynhaven  and  county  of  Princess  Anne,  together 
with  divers  others,  inhabitants  of  the  counties  of  Princess 
Anne,  and  Norfolk,  and  citizens  of  this  commonwealth, 
contrary  to  their  fidelity,  associating  and  confederating 
together,  have  levied  war  against  this  commonwealth,  within 
the  same,  committing  murders,  burning  houses,  wasting 
farms,  and  doing  other  acts  of  hostility  in  the  said  counties 
of  Princess  Anne  and  Norfolk,  and  still  continue  to  exercise 


240  WIRT'S    LIFE    OF 

the  same  enormities  on  the  good  people  of  this  common 
wealth;  and,  whereas,  the  delays  which  would  attend  the 
proceeding  to  outlaw  the  said  offenders,  according  to  the 
usual  forms  and  procedures  of  the  courts  of  law,  would  leave 
the  said  good  people,  for  a  long  time  exposed  to  murder  and 
devastation : — 

"Be  it,  therefore,  enacted  by  tlie  general  assembly, 
That  if  the  said  Josiah  Philips,  his  associates  and  confede 
rates,  shall  not,  on  or  before  the  last  day  of  June,  in  the 
present  year,  render  themselves  to  the  governor,  or  to  some 
member  of  the  privy  council,  judge  of  the  general  court, 
justice  of  the  peace,  or  commissioned  officer  of  the  regular 
troops,  navy,  or  militia  of  this  commonwealth,  in  order  to  their 
trials  for  the  treasons,  murders,  and  other  felonies  by  them 
committed,  that,  then,  such  of  them,  the  said  Josiah  Philips, 
his  associates  and  confederates,  as  shall  not  so  render  him  or 
themselves,  shall  stand  and  be  convicted  and  attainted  of  high 
treason,  and  shall  suffer  the  pains  of  death,  and  incur  all  for 
feitures,  penalties,  and  disabilities,  prescribed  by  the  law 
against  those  convicted  and  attainted  of  high  treason;  and  that 
execution  of  this  sentence  of  attainder  shall  be  done,  by  order 
of  the  general  court,  to  be  entered  so  soon  as  may  be  conve 
niently,  after  notice  that  any  of  the  said  offenders  are  in  cus 
tody  of  the  keeper  of  the  public  jail.  And  if  any  person 
committed  to  the  custody  of  the  keeper  of  the  public  jail,  as 
an  associate  or  confederate  of  the  said  Josiah  Philips,  shall 
allege  that  he  hath  not  been  of  his  associates  or  confederates, 
at  any  time  after  the  first  day  of  July,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord 
one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventy-seven,  at  which 
time  the  said  murders  and  devastations  were  begun,  a  petit 
jury  shall  be  summoned  and  charged,  according  to  the  forms 
of  the  law,  to  try,  in  the  presence  of  the  said  court,  the  fact 


PATRICK    HENRY.  241 

so  alleged ;  and  if  it  be  found  against  the  defendant,  execution 
of  this  act  shall  be  done  as  before  directed. 

"  And  that  the  good  people  of  this  commonwealth  may 
not,  in  the  meantime,  be  subject  to  the  unrestrained  hostili 
ties  of  the  said  insurgents :  Be  it  further  enacted,  That 
from  and  after  the  passing  of  this  act,  it  shall  be  lawful  for 
any  person,  with  or  without  orders,  to  pursue  and  slay  the 
said  Josiah  Philips,  and  any  others  who  have  been  of  his 
associates  or  confederates,  at  any  time  after  the  said  first  day 
of  July  aforesaid,  and  shall  not  have  previously  rendered  him 
or  themselves  to  any  of  the  officers,  civil  or  military,  before 
described,  or  otherwise  to  take  and  deliver  them  to  justice,  to 
be  dealt  with  according  to  law.  Provided,  that  the  person 
so  slain  be  in  arms  at  the  time,  or  endeavouring  to  escape 
being  taken." 

Philips  was  apprehended  in  the  course  of  the  autumn,  and 
indicted  by  Mr.  Edmund  Randolph,  attorney-general,  for 
highway-robbery,  simply.  On  this  charge  he  was  tried 
at  the  October  term  of  the  general  court,  convicted,  and  exe 
cuted  :  so  that  the  act  of  attainder  was  never  brought  to  bear 
upon  him  at  all.  This  is  the  whole  case  of  Josiah  Philips. 
The  reader  will  judge  whether  Mr.  Henry  deserves  censure 
for  having  communicated  to  the  legislature  the  letter  of 
Col.  Wilson ;  or  whether  that  body  acted  with  too  much 
severity  toward  a  wretch,  who  had  not  only  set  the  laws  of 
his  country  at  defiance,  but  was  waging  a  cruel  and  das 
tardly  war  upen  men  without  arms,  upon  women  and  chil 
dren  ;  and  acting,  not  the  part  of  a  brave  and  open  enemy 
but  that  of  an  enemy  of  the  human  family. 

Just  at  the  close  of  Mr.  Henry's  administration,  Virginia 
suffered  an  invasion  of  a  few  days,  under  the  British  oflicers 
Collin  and  Matthew.  They  seized  Fort  Nelson,  near  Nor- 
2H  21 


242  WIRT'SLIFEOF 

folk,  destroyed  the  naval  stores  at  Gosport,  burnt  Suffolk,  and 
disappeared  before  the  militia  could  be  rallied  to  chastise 
their  insolence.  This  occurred  in  the  month  of  May,  1779; 
and  the  facility  and  impunity  with  which  the  enterprise  was 
accomplished,  very  probably  suggested  the  more  serious 
invasion  of  the  state,  which  afterward  took  place  under  the 
traitor  Arnold. 

It  would  seem,  that  a  wish  was  entertained  to  re-elect  Mr. 
Henry  to  the  office  of  governor  a  *burth  time,  although  the 
constitution  declared  him  ineligible  after  the  third  year.  The 
impression  seems  to  have  been  that  his  appointment  for  the 
first  year,  not  having  been  made  by  delegates  who  had  them 
selves  been  elected  under  the  constitution,  ought  not  to  be 
counted  as  one  of  the  constitutional  years  of  service.  Mr. 
Henry,  however,  had  too  scrupulous  a  respect  for  that  instru 
ment  to  accept  the  office,  even  in  a  doubtful  case  ;  and, 
therefore,  addressed  the  following  letter  to  the  speaker : — 

"May  28th,  1779. 
"  Sir, 

"  The  term  for  which  I  had  the  honour  to  be  elected 
governor  by  the  late  assembly  being  just  about  to  expire,  and 
the  constitution,  as  I  think,  making  me  ineligible  to  that  office, 
I  take  the  liberty  to  communicate  to  the  assembly  through 
you,  sir,  my  intention  to  retire  in  four  or  five  days. 

"  I  have  thought  it  necessary  to  give  this  notification  of 
my  design,  in  order  that  the  assembly  may  have  the  earliest 
opportunity  of  deliberating  upon  the  choice  of  a  successor  to 
me  in  office.  With  great  regard, 

"  I  have  the  honour  to  be,  sir, 

"  Your  most  obedient  servant, 

"  T».  HENRY." 


PATRICK     HENRY.  243 

Thus  closed  Mr.  Henry's  administration  :  and  although  he 
.had  not  an  opportunity  of  distinguishing  it  by  any  splendid 
achievements,  it  is  honour  enough  that  he  had  given  univer 
sal  satisfaction,  and  that  he  retired  with  a  popularity 
confirmed  and  increased. 

It  has  been  thought  best  not  to  break  the  chain  of  the 
narrative,  as  to  his  public  character,  by  noticing  the  changes 
which  had  before  this  time  occurred  in  his  domestic  relations. 
It  may  be  proper  to  pause  here  for  the  purpose  of  supplying 
this  omission. 

His  wife,  the  partner  of  his  youth,  and  the  solace  of  his 
early  adversities,  had  died  in  the  year  1775,  after  having 
made  him  the  father  of  six  children.  The  anguish  of  this 
blow  was  mitigated  by  the  circumstance  of  her  having  been, 
for  several  years,  in  a  state  of  ill  health  and  of  suffering, 
from  which  there  was  no  hope  of  recovery;  and  to  her, 
therefore,  death  indeed  "  came  like  a  friend  to  relieve  her 
from  pain.' 

Neither  had  the  father  lived  to  witness  the  promotion  of 
his  son  to  the  highest  honours  of  the  republic.  He  had  lived 
however,  long  enough  to  enjoy  the  first  bloom  of  his  fame, 
and  to  see  him  the  most  celebrated  and  rising  character  in 
the  state.  He  had  died  about  the  year  1770,  and  left  behind 
him  a  name  highly  respectable  for  every  private  and  social 
virtue. 

His  uncle,  for  whom  he  seems  to  have  had  a  strong  affec 
tion,  had  died  during  his  government,  and  in  token  of  his 
affection  and  respect,  had  appointed  him  the  executor  of  his 
will. 

His  tender  and  indulgent  mother  still  survived,  and  felt  all 
that  pure  and  exquisite  delight,  which  the  well-deservcrl 
honours  of  her  son  were  calculated  to  inspire. 


244  WIRT'SLIFEOF 

After  the  death  of  his  wife,  Mr.  Henry  sold  the  farm  called 
Scotch  Town,  on  which  he  had  resided  in  Hanover,  and 
purchased  eight  or  ten  thousand  acres  of  valuable  land  in 
the  county  of  Henry ;  a  county  which  had  been  erected 
during  his  government,  and  which  had  taken  its  name  from 
him,  as  did  afterwards  its  neighbouring  county  of  Patrick. 
In  the  year  1777,  he  intermarried  with  Dorothea,  the  daugh 
ter  of  Mr.  Nathaniel  W.  Dandridge,  with  whom,  after  the 
resignation  or  expiration  of  his  office,  he  removed  to  his 
newly-acquired  estate,  called  Leatherwood,  and  there  resumed 
the  practice  of  the  law.  In  the  year  1780,  we  find  him  again 
in  the  assembly,  and  one  of  the  most  active  members  in  the 
house. 

During  the  winter  session  of  this  year,  General  Gates 
entered  the  city  of  Richmond  from  his  southern  campaign, 
where  he  had  most  wofully  fulfilled  General  Lee's  predic 
tion.*  His  total  defeat  at  Camden,  and  a  series  of  subse 
quent  ill  fortune,  had  left  South  Carolina  completely  in  the 
hands  of  the  victorious  British ;  and  to  increase  his  humilia 
tion,  congress  had  not  only  superseded  him  in  that  command, 
by  the  substitution  of  General  Greene,  but  had  passed  a 
resolution  requiring  the  commander-in-chief  to  order  a  court 
of  inquiry  on  his  conduct.  Under  these  accumulated  dis 
graces,  the  unfortunate  general  entered  the  city  of  Richmond ; 
when  Mr.  Henry  moved  a  resolution  which  displays,  in  a 
most  engaging  light,  the  delicate  and  generous  sensibility  of 
his  character ;  it  was  as  follows  : — 

"  Resolved,  That  a  committee  of  four  be  appointed  to  wait 


*  When  Gen.  Charles  Lee  heard  of  Gen.  Gates's  appointment  to  the 
command  of  the  southern  army,  he  foretold  that  "  his  northern  laurels 
would  be  turned  into  southern  willows" 


PATRICK     HENRY.  245 

on  Major-general  Gates,  and  to  assure  him  of  the  high 
regard  and  esteem  of  this  house  ;  that  the  remembrance  of  his 
former  glorious  services  cannot  be  obliterated  by  any  reverse 
of  fortune  ;  but  that  this  house,  ever  mindful  of  his  great 
merit,  will  omit  no  opportunity  of  testifying  to  the  world,  the 
gratitude  which,  as  a  member  of  the  American  union,  this 
country  owes  to  him  in  his  military  character." 

The  author  may  be  permitted  to  say  of  a  state,  which  is 
his  only  by  adoption,  that,  in  an  assembly  of  Virginians,  this 
generous  resolution  could  not  fail  to  pass  unanimously.  The 
committee  appointed  to  communicate  it  to  the  general,  were, 
Mr.  Henry,  Mr.  Richard  H.  Lee,  Mr.  Zane,  and  General 
Nelson.  We  may  be  assured,  that  a  committee,  chosen 
with  so  much  judgment,*  discharged  their  duty  in  a  manner 
the  most  grateful  to  the  wounded  feelings  of  the  general ; 
and  on  the  next  day,  Mr.  Henry  reported  the  following 
answer,  which  was  spread  upon  the  journal : — 

"  Richmond,  December  28th,  1780. 
"  Sir, 

"  I  shall  ever  remember  with  the  utmost  gratitude,  the 
high  honour  this  day  done  me  by  the  honourable  the  house 
of  delegates  of  Virginia.  When  engaged  in  the  noble  cause 
of  freedom  and  the  United  States,  I  devoted  myself  entirely 
to  the  service  of  obtaining  the  great  end  of  their  union.  That 

*  Mr.  Henry,  the  mover,  had  recently  closed  his  administration  with 
honour,  as  the  first  republican  governor  of  Virginia,  and  was  the  most 
considerable  man  in  the  commonwealth ;  Mr.  Lee  was  a  member  of 
the  congress,  whose  vote  we  have  just  mentioned ;  Mr.  Zane  repre 
sented  the  county  in  which  Gen.  Gates  lived ;  and  Gen.  Nelson  was 
the  most  popular  military  character  in  the  state. 

21* 


246  WIRT'SLIFEOF 

I  have  been  once  unfortunate  is  my  great  mortification ;  but, 
let  the  event  of  my  future  services  be  what  they  may,  they 
will,  as  they  always  have  been,  be  directed  by  the  most 
faithful  integrity,  and  animated  by  the  truest  zeal  for  the 
honour  and  interest  of  the  United  States. 

"  HORATIO  GATES." 

The  spring  and  summer  of  the  next  year  presented  a 
period  of  even  deeper  darkness  than  the  autumn  of  1776. 
Virginia,  had  not,  hitherto,  been  the  theatre  of  hostile  opera 
tions  of  a  very  serious  character ;  her  sufferings  had  been 
rather  those  of  sympathy  with  her  northern  and  southern 
sisters ;  but  in  this  year  the  calamities  of  war  were  brought 
home  to  her  own  bosom.  Arnold's  invasion  took  place  in 
January :  having  carried  his  ravages  as  high  up  as  Richmond 
and  Westham,  he  retired  to  Portsmouth,  where  he  rested  till 
April,  when  General  Philips  succeeded  to  the  command,  and 
paid  another  visit  of  desolation  to  Manchester.  In  the  next 
month  came  Lord  Cornwallis,  with  his  victorious  army  from 
the  south,  driving  every  thing  before  him,  and  striking  terror 
into  whatsoever  quarter  he  approached.  Having  formed  a 
junction  between  his  forces  and  those  under  the  command  of 
General  Philips,  there  was  no  longer  a  military  force  in  the 
state  which  had  the  power  to  resist  him.  The  inferior  body 
of  republican  troops,  under  the  Marquis  la  Fayette,  moved 
before  him,  without  the  ability  to  strike  a  blow ;  and  Corn 
wallis  roamed  at  pleasure,  and  without  any  apprehension, 
through  the  interior  of  the  state. 

The  seventh  of  May  was  the  day  appointed  by  law  for  the 
meeting  of  the  assembly  at  Richmond.  A  few  members  met 
ard  took  the  oaths  prescribed  by  law ;  but  the  number  not 


PATRICK    HENRY.  247 

being  sufficient  to  proceed  to  business,  the  house  was 
adjourned  from  day  to  day  until  the  10th;  when,  upon 
information  of  the  approach  of  the  enemy,  they  adjourned 
to  the  24th,  to  meet  at  Charlotte sville.  It  was  hot  until  the 
28th,  that  a  house  was  formed  to  proceed  to  business  at  this 
place ;  when  Mr.  Benjamin  Harrison  was  elected  speaker, 
and  after  making  the  usual  acknowledgments  for  that  honour, 
proceeded  to  address  the  following  remarks  to  the  house; 
which  I  quote,  not  because  they  are  a  very  favourable  speci 
men  of  Mr.  Harrison's  oratory,  but  to  show  the  panic  which 
prevailed  even  among  the  first  men  of  the  country:—"  The 
critical  and  dangerous  situation  of  our  country  leads  me  to 
hope,  that  my  recommending  it  to  you  to  despatch  the  weighty 
matters  that  will  be  under  your  consideration,  with  all  conve 
nient  speed,  will  not  be  taken  amiss  ;  the  people  expect  that 
effectual  and  decisive  measures  will  be  taken  to  rid  them  of 
an  implacable  enemy,  that  are  now  roaming  at  large  in  the 
very  bowels  of  our  country,  and  I  have  no  doubt  of  your 
answering  their  expectations ;  the  mode  of  doing  this  may 
indeed  be  difficult :  but  it  not  being  my  province  to  point  it 
out,  I  shall  leave  it  to  your  wisdom,  in  full  confidence  that 
every  thing  that  is  necessary  for  quieting  the  minds  and 
dispelling  the  fears  of  our  constituents,  will  be  done." 

Eight  days  after  this  address,  Mr.  John  Jouett,  a  citizen  of 
the  place,  entered  the  town  on  horseback,  at  full  speed,  and 
announced  the  near  and  rapid  approach  of  Tarlton,  at  the 
head  of  three  hundred  cavalry  and  mounted  infantry.  The 
house  had  just  met,  and  was  about  to  commence  business, 
when  the  alarming  cry  of  "  Tarlton  and  the  British,"  was 
spread  through  the  village  ;  and  they  had  scarcely  taken 
time  to  adjourn  informally  to  Staunton,  when  Tarlton  rushed 


248  WIRT's    IIFE    OF 

like  a  thunderbolt  into  the  village,  in  the  confident  expecta 
tion  of  seizing  the  whole  assembly  ;  but  the  birds  had  flown. 
He  made  seven  of  them  only  prisoners.  The  rest  reassem 
bled  in  Staunton,  on  the  7th  of  June.  On  the  10th  of  June, 
a  false  report  of  his  approach  produced  another  panic ;  and 
the  house  having  merely  taken  time  to  resolve  that  they 
would  meet  at  the  Warm  Springs,  if  it  should  be  found  dan 
gerous  to  meet  in  Staunton  on  the  next  day ;  and  on  their 
failure  so  to  do,  that  the  speaker  might  call  a  meeting,  when 
and  where  he  pleased,  again  broke  up  and  dispersed. 

It  was  at  this  period  of  almost  hopeless  darkness,  when 
the  energies  of  the  state  seemed  to  have  been  pretty  nearly 
paralyzed,  that  the  project  of  a  dictator  was  again  revived ; 
and  it  is  again  highly  probable,  that  Mr.  Henry  was  the  char 
acter  who  was  in  view  for  that  office.  Inquiries  have  been 
made  of  the  surviving  members  of  that  assembly  to  ascertain 
whether  the  project  could  be  traced  to  him,  or  whether  he 
had  any  kind  of  participation  in  the  proposal;  but  those 
inquiries  have  resulted  in  a  conviction  of  his  entire  innocence. 
The  project  came  from  other  quarters,  and  seems  to  have 
been  the  last  refuge  of  that  general  despair  which  for  a  short 
time  pervaded  the  whole  commonwealth. 

But  this  period  of  deep  darkness  was  the  harbinger  of 
breaking  day.  The  morning  dawned  with  the  arrival  of 
those  aids  from  France,  which  Mr.  Henry  had  so  long  ago 
predicted ;  and  the  sun  of  American  independence  arose  to 
set  no  more.  He  lived  to  witness  the  glorious  issue  of  that 
revolution  which  his  genius  had  set  in  motion  ;  and  (to  repeat 
his  own  prophetic  language,  before  the  commencement  of  the 
struggle)  "to  see  America  take  her  stand  among  the  nations 
of  the  earth."  The  contest  closed  with  the  capture  of  Corn- 
wallis,  at  Little  York,  on  the  19th  of  October,  1781 ;  and  thus 


PATRICK     HENRY.  249 

the  ball  of  the  revolution  rested  in  the  same  state  in  which  it 
had  received  the  first  impulse. 

This  enlightened  and  patriotic  statesman,  however,  was 
not  yet  inclined  to  indulge  himself  in  that  repose  to  which 
he  was  so  well  entitled.  The  constitution  of  the  state  had 
as  yet  been  tried  only  in  war,  when  the  sense  of  common 
danger,  and  their  ardour  in  the  common  cause,  might  of 
themselves  have  been  sufficient  to  keep  the  people  together, 
and  to  supply,  in  a  good  degree,  the  place  of  government. 

It  was  necessary  to  see  how  the  instrument  would  work 
in  peace ;  what  assurance  it  gave  of  public  order  and  well- 
regulated  liberty ;  or  whether  any,  and  what  defects  in  the 
plan  required  amendment. 

There  were  other  considerations,  too,  which  called  loudly 
for  attention.  The  war  had  left  the  country  in  a  most 
deplorable  situation ;  poor  and  'in  debt ;  its  warriors  unre 
quited  ;  its  finances  wholly  deranged ;  its  jurisprudence 
unsettled ;  and  all  its  faculties  weak,  disordered,  and  exhaust 
ed.  This  was  no  time  for  the  patriot  to  quit  his  post.  It 
demanded  all  his  vigilance  to  guard  the  infant  republic  against 
the  machinations  of  its  enemies,  both  abroad  and  at  home  ;  it 
required  all  his  care  and  all  his  skill  to  heal  the  numerous 
disorders  which  had  flowed  from  the  war ;  to  nurse  the  new 
born  nation  into  health  and  strength ;  to  develop  its  resources, 
moral  and  physical ;  and  thus  to  give  security  and  perma 
nence  to  its  liberties. 

With  the  view  of  contributing  his  aid  to  those  great 
objects,  Mr.  Henry  still  continued  to  represent  the  county  of 
his  residence,  in  the  legislature  of  the  state,  and  controlled 
the  proceedings  of  that  body,  with  a  weight  of  personal 
authority,  and  a  power  of  eloquence,  which  it  was  extremely 

difficult,  and  indeed  almost  impossible  to  resist.     A  striking 
2  I 


250  WIRT'S     LIFE     OF 

evidence  of  this  power  was  given,  immediately  on  the  close 
of  the  revolution,  in  his  advocating  the  return  of  the  British 
refugees.  The  measure  was  most  vehemently  opposed. 
There  was  no  class  of  human  beings  against  whom  such  vio 
lent  and  deep-rooted  prejudices  existed.  The  name  of  "  British 
tory,"  was  of  itself  enough,  at  that  period,  to  throw  almost 
any  company  in  Virginia  into  flames,  and  was  pretty  generally 
a  signal  for  a  coat  of  tar  and  feathers;  a  signal  which  was 
not  very  often  disobeyed.  Mr.  Henry's  proposition  in  favour 
of  a  class  of  people  so  odious  could  not  fail  to  excite  the 
strongest  surprise  ;  and  was,  at  first,  received  with  a  repug 
nance  apparently  insuperable. 

The  late  Judge  Tyler,  then  the  speaker  of  the  house, 
opposed  it  in  the  committee  of  the  whole,  with  great  warmth ; 
and  in  the  course  of  the  discussion,  turning  from  the  chair 
man  to  Mr.  Henry,  he  asked  him,  "  how  he,  above  all  other 
men,  could  think  of  inviting  into  his  family,  an  enemy, 
from  whose  insults  and  injuries  he  had  suffeied  so  severely  ?" 
To  this  Mr.  Henry  answered,  that  "the  personal  feelings  of 

]  a  politician  ought  not  to  be  permitted  to  enter  those  walls. 

(  The  question  (he  said)  was  a  national  one,  and  in  deciding 
it,  if  they  acted  wisely,  nothing  would  be  regarded  but  the 
interest  of  the  nation.  On  the  altar  of  his  country's  good 
he  was  willing  to  sacrifice  all  personal  resentments,  all  private 
wrongs — and  he  flattered  himself,  that  he  was  not  the  only 
man  in  the  house  who  was  capable  of  making  such  a  sacri 
fice.  We  have,  sir,  (said  he,)  an  extensive  country,  without 
population — what  can  be  a  more  obvious  policy  than  that 
this  country  ought  to  be  peopled? — people,  sir,  form  the 
strength,  and  constitute  the  wealth  of  a  nation.  I  want 
to  see  our  vast  forests  filled  up  by  some  process  a  little  more 
speedy  than  the  ordinary  course  of  nature.  I  wish  to  see 


PATRICK    HENRY.  251 

these  states  rapidly  ascending  to  that  rank  which  their  natural 
advantages  authorize  them  to  hold  among  the  nations  of  the 
earth.  Cast  your  eyes,  sir,  over  this  extensive  country — 
observe  the  salubrity  of  your  climate ;  the  variety  and 
fertility  of  your  soil — and  see  that  soil  intersected  in  every 
quarter  by  bold,  navigable  streams,  flowing  to  the  east  and 
to  the  west,  as  if  the  finger  of  Heaven  were  marking  out  the 
course  of  your  settlements,  inviting  you  to  enterprise,  and 
pointing  the  way  to  wealth.  Sir,  you  are  destined,  at  some 
time  or  other,  to  become  a  great  agricultural  and  commercial 
people ;  the  only  question  is,  whether  you  choose  to  reach 
this  point  by  slow  gradations,  and  at  some  distant  period- 
lingering  on  through  a  long  and  sickly  minority — subjected, 
meanwhile,  to  the  machinations,  insults,  and  oppressions  of 
enemies,  foreign  and  domestic,  without  sufficient  strength  to 
resist  and  chastise  them — or  whether  you  choose  rather  to 
rush  at  once,  as  it  were,  to  the  full  enjoyment  of  those  high 
destinies,  and  be  able  to  cope,  single-handed,  with  the  proud 
est  oppressor  of  the  old  world.  If  you  prefer  the  latter  course, 
as  I  trust  you  do,  encourage  emigration — encourage  the 
husbandmen,  the  mechanics,  the  merchants  of  the  old  world, 
to  come  and  settle  in  this  land  of  promise — make  it  the  home 
of  the  skilful,  the  industrious,  the  fortunate  and  happy,  as 
well  as  the  asylum  of  the  distressed — fill  up  the  measure  of 
your  population  as  speedily  as  you  can,  by  the  means  which 
Heaven  hath  placed  in  your  power — and  I  venture  to  pro 
phesy  there  are  those  now  living,  who  will  see  this  favoured 
land  amongst  the  most  powerful  on  earth — able,  sir,  to  take 
care  of  herself,  without  resorting  to  that  policy  which  is 
always  so  dangerous,  though  sometimes  unavoidable,  of  cal 
ling  in  foreign  aid.  Yes,  sir — they  will  see  her  great  in  arts 
arid  in  arms — her  golden  harvests  waving  over  fields  of 


252  WIRT'S    LIFE    OF 

immeasurable  extent — her  commerce  penetrating  the  most 
distant  seas,  and  her  cannon  silencing  the  vain  boasts  of  those 
who  now  proudly  affect  to  rule  the  waves.  But,  sir,  you 
must  have  men — you  cannot  get  along  without  them — those 
neavy  forests  of  valuable  timber,  under  which  your  lands  are 
groaning,  must  be  cleared  away — those  vast  riches  which 
cover  the  face  of  your  soil,  as  well  as  those  which  lie  hid  in 
its  bosom,  are  to  be  developed  and  gathered  only  by  the  skill 
and  enterprise  of  men — your  timber,  sir,  must  be  worked  up 
into  ships,  to  transport  the  productions  of  the  soil  from  which 
it  has  been  cleared — then,  you  must  have  commercial  men 
and  commercial  capital,  to  take  off  your  productions,  and  find 
the  best  markets  for  them  abroad — your  great  want,  sir,  is 
the  want  of  men ;  and  these  you  must  have,  and  will  have 
speedily,  if  you  are  wise. 

"  Do  you  ask  how  you  are  to  get  them  ? — Open  your  doors, 
sir,  and  they  will  come  in — the  population  of  the  old  world 
is  full  to  overflowing — that  population  is  ground,  too,  by  the 
oppressions  of  the  governments  under  which  they  live.  Sir, 
they  are  already  standing  on  tiptoe  upon  their  native  shores, 
and  looking  to  your  coasts  with  a  wishful  and  longing  eye — 
they  see  here  a  land  blessed  with  natural  and  political  advan 
tages,  which  are  not  equalled  by  those  of  any  other  country 
upon  earth — a  land  on  which  a  gracious  Providence  hath 
emptied  the  horn  of  abundance — a  land  over  which  peace 
hath  now  stretched  forth  her  white  wings,  and  where  content 
and  plenty  lie  down  at  every  door  !  Sir,  they  see  something 
still  more  attractive  than  all  this — they  see  a  land  in  which 
liberty  hath  taken  up  her  abode — that  liberty,  whom  they  had 
considered  as  a  fabled  goddess,  existing  only  in  the  fancies 
of  poets — they  see  her  here  a  real  divinity — her  altars  rising 
on  every  hand  throughout  these  happy  states — her  glories 


PATRICK     HENRY.  253 

chanted  by  three  millions  of  tongues — and  the  whole  region 
smiling  under  her  blessed  influence.  Sir,  let  but  this  our 
celestial  goddess,  Liberty,  stretch  forth  her  fair  hand  toward 
the  people  of  the  old  world — tell  them  to  come,  and  bid  them 
welcome — and  you  will  see  them  pouring  in  from  the  north, 
from  the  south,  from  the  east,  and  from  the  west — your  wil 
dernesses  will  be  cleared  and  settled — your  deserts  will 
smile — your  ranks  will  be  filled — and  you  will  soon  be  in  a 
condition  to  defy  the  powers  of  any  adversary. 

"But  gentlemen  object  to  any  accession  from  Great 
Britain — and  particularly  to  the  return  of  the  British  refugees. 
Sir,  I  feel  no  objection  to  the  return  of  those  deluded  people 
— they  have,  to  be  sure,  mistaken  their  own  interests  most 
wofully,  and  most  wofully  have  they  suffered  the  punishment 
due  to  their  offences.  But  the  relations  which  we  bear  to 
them  and  to  their  native  country  are  now  changed — their 
king  hath  acknowledged  our  independence — the  quarrel  is 
over — peace  hath  returned,  and  found  us  a  free  people.  Let 
us  have  the  magnanimity,  sir,  to  lay  aside  our  antipathies 
and  prejudices,  and  consider  the  subject  in  a  political  light. 
Those  are  an  enterprising,  moneyed  people — they  will  be 
serviceable  in  taking  off  the  surplus  produce  of  our  lands, 
and  supplying  us  with  necessaries,  during  the  infant  state  of 
our  manufactures.  Even  if  they  be  inimical  to  us  in  point 
of  feeling  and  principle,  I  can  see  no  objection,  in  a  political 
view,  in  making  them  tributary  to  our  advantage.  And  as  I 
have  no  prejudices  to  prevent  my  making  this  use  of  them, 
so,  sir,  I  have  no  fear  of  any  mischief  that  they  can  do  us. 
Afraid  of  them ! — what,  sir," — said  he,  rising  to  one  of  his 
loftiest  attitudes,  and  assuming  a  look  of  the  most  indignant 
and  sovereign  contempt, — "  shall  we,  who  have  laid  the  proud 
British  lion  at  our  feet,  now  be  afraid  of  his  whelps  ?n 

22 


254  WIRT'S    LIFE     OF 

The  force  of  this  figure,  and  the  energy  with  which  it  was 
brought  out,  are  said  to  have  produced  an  effect  that  made 
the  house  start  simultaneously.  It  continued  to  be  admired, 
long  after  the  occasion  which  gave  it  birth  had  passed  away, 
and  was  frequently  quoted  by  Mr.  Wythe  to  his  students, 
while  professor  of  law  at  William  and  Mary  college,  as  a 
happy  specimen  of  those  valuable  figures,  which  unite  the 
beauty  of  decoration  with  the  effect  of  argument. 

The  gentleman  to  whom  I  am  indebted  for  the  pieceding 
incident,*  has  favoured  me  also  with  the  following  one, 
which  I  shall  give  in  his  own  words : — 

"Mr.  Henry  espoused  the  measure  which  took  off  the 
restraints  on  British  commerce,  before  any  treaty  was 
entered  into ;  in  which  I  opposed  him  on  this  ground,  that 
that  measure  would  expel  from  this  country  the  trade  of  every 
other  nation,  on  account  of  our  habits,  language,  and  the 
manner  of  conducting  business  on  credit  between  us  and 
them  :  also  on  this  ground,  in  addition  to  the  above,  that  if  we 
changed  the  then  current  of  commerce,  we  should  drive  away 
all  competition,  and  never  perhaps  should  regain  it,  (which 
has  literally  happened).  In  reply  to  these  observations,  he 
was  beyond  all  expression  eloquent  and  sublime.  After 
painting  the  distresses  of  the  people,  struggling  through  a 
perilous  war,  cut  off  from  commerce  so  long  that  they  were 
naked,  and  unclothed,  he  concluded  with  a  figure,  or  rather 
with  a  series  of  figures,  which  I  shall  never  forget,  because, 
beautiful  as  they  were  in  themselves,  their  effect  was  height 
ened  beyond  all  description,  by  the  manner  in  which  he  acted 

*  Judge  Tyler. 


PATRICK      HENRY.  255 

what  he  spoke  : — l  Why,'  said  he,  '  should  we  fetter  com 
merce  ?  If  a  man  is  in  chains,  he  droops  and  bows  to  the 
earth,  for  his  spirits  are  broken,  (looking  sorrowfully  at  his 
feet:)  but  let  him  twist  the  fetters  from  his  legs,  and  he  will 
stand  erect,' — straightening  himself,  and  assuming  a  look  of 
proud  defiance. — '  Fetter  not  commerce,  sir — let  her  be  as 
free  as  air — she  will  range  the  whole  creation,  and  return  on 
the  wings  of  the  four  winds  of  heaven,  to  bless  the  land  with 
plenty.' " 

In  the  fall  session  of  1784,  Mr.  Henry  proposed  and  advo 
cated  several  measures  which  deserve  particular  mention  : — 
one  of  them,  on  account  of  the  originality  and  boldness  of 
mind  from  which  it  proceeded;  and  others,  because  they 
have  sometimes  been  made  the  subjects  of  censure  against 
him.  The  first  respects  the  Indians.  Those  unfortunate 
beings,  the  natural  enemies  of  the  white  people,  whom  they 
regarded  as  lawless  intruders  into  a  country  set  apart  for 
themselves  by  the  Great  Spirit,  had  continued,  from  their 
first  landing,  to  harass  the  white  settlements,  and  hang,  like 
a  pestilence  on  their  frontier,  as  it  advanced  itself  toward  the 
west.  The  story  of  their  accumulated  wrongs,  handed  down 
by  tradition  from  father  to  son,  and  emblazoned  with  all  the 
colours  of  Indian  oratory,  had  kept  their  war-fires  smoking 
from  age  to  age,  and  the  hatchet  and  scalping-knife  perpet 
ually  bright.  They  had  long  since  abandoned  the  hope  of 
being  able,  by  their  single  strength,  to  exterminate  the  usur 
pers  of  their  soil ;  but  either  from  the  spirit  of  habitual  and 
deadly  revenge,  or  from  the  policy  of  checking,  as  far  as  they 
could,  the  perpetually  extending  encroachments  of  the  white 
men,  they  had  waged  an  unremitting  war  upon  their  borders, 
marked  with  horrors  which  eclipse  the  wildest  fictions  of 


256  WIRT'SLIFEOF 

the  legendary  tale.*  These  people,  too,  besides  the  mis 
chiefs  to  which  they  were  prompted  by  their  own  feelings 
and  habits,  were  an  ever-ready  and  a  most  terriffic  scourge, 
in  the  hands  of  any  enemy  with  whom  this  country  might  be 
at  variance.  Dunmore,  although  thanked  at  the  time  for  his 
services,  was  afterward  believed,  by  the  house  of  burgesses, 
to  have  made  use  of  them  in  the  years  1774-5,  in  order  to 
draw  off  the  attention  of  the  colonists  from  the  usurpation  of 
the  British  court:  and,  in  the  recent  war  of  the  revolution, 
that  merciless  enemy  had  been  again  let  loose  upon  our 
frontier,  with  all  the  terrors  of  savage  warfare.  The  return 
of  peace  with  Britain  had  given  us  but  a  short  respite  from 
their  hostilities.  I  perceive,  by  the  journal  of  the  house  of 
delegates,  that  on  the  5th  of  November,  1784,  it  was,  on  the 
motion  of  Mr.  Henry, 

u  Resolved,  That  the  governor,  with  the  advice  of  council, 
be  requested  to  adopt  such  measures  as  may  be  found  neces- 

*The  stories  of  these  border  skirmishes,  which  yet  live  in  the  tra 
ditions  of  the  west,  are  highly  worthy  of  collection.  They  exhibit 
scenes  of  craft,  boldness,  and  ferocity,  on  the  part  of  the  savages,  and 
of  heroic  and  desperate  defence  by  the  semi-barbarous  men,  women, 
and  children,  who  were  the  objects  of  these  attacks,  which  mark  the 
characters  of  both  sides  in  a  most  interesting  manner.  Those  tales 
of  the  long,  obstinate,  and  bloody  defence  of  log-cabins:  of  the  almost 
incredible  achievements  of  women  and  little  boys;  of  the  sometimes 
total  and  sometimes  partial  havoc  of  families;  of  the  captivity,  tor 
tures,  and  death  of  some  ;  and  the  miraculous  escape,  wanderings, 
and  preservation  of  others — would  form  a  book  of  more  interest  than 
any  other  that  coul'd  be  put  into  the  hands  of  a  Virginia  reader;  and 
would  furnish  the  subject  of  many  a  novel,  drama,  and  painting.  The 
adventure  of  Captain  Smith  and  Pocahontas,  if  you  put  aside  the 
dignity  of  their  characters,  is  cold  and  tame,  when  compared  with 
some  which  are  related  among  the  western  inhabitants  of  this  state. 


PATRICK    HENRY.  257 

sary  to  avert  the  danger  of  hostilities  with  the  Indians,  and 
to  incline  them  to  treat  with  the  commissioners  of  congress ; 
and  for  that  purpose  to  draw  on  the  treasury  for  any  sum  of 
money  not  exceeding  one  thousand  pounds,  which  shall  stand 
charged  to  the  account  of  money  issued  for  the  contingent 
charges  of  government." 

A  treaty  with  the  Indians,  however,  was  well  known  to  be 
a  miserable  expedient ;  the  benefits  of  which  would  scarcely 
last  as  long  as  the  ceremonies  that  produced  it.  The  reflect 
ing  politician  could  not  help  seeing,  that,  in  order  to  remove 
the  annoyance  effectually,  the  remedy  must  go  to  the  root  of 
the  disease — that  that  inveterate  and  fatal  enmity  which 
rankled  in  the  hearts  of  the  Indians  must  be  eradicated — 
that  a  common  interest  and  congenial  feelings  between  them 
and  their  white  neighbours  must  be  created — and  humanity 
and  civilization  gradually  superinduced  upon  the  Indian 
character.  The  difficulty  lay  in  devising  a  mode  to  effect 
these  objects.  THe  white  people  who  inhabited  the  frontier, 
from  the  constant  state  of  warfare  in  which  they  lived  with 
the  Indians,  had  imbibed  much  of  their  character;  and 
learned  to  delight  so  highly  in  scenes  of  crafty,  bloody,  and 
desperate  conflict,  that  they  as  often  gave  as  they  received 
the  provocation  to  hostilities. 

Hunting,  which  was  their  occupation,  became  dull  and 
tiresome,  unless  diversified  occasionally  by  the  more  ani 
mated  and  piquant  amusement  of  an  Indian  skirmish  ;  just  as 
"  the  blood  more  stirs  to  rouse  a  lion  than  to  start  a  hare." 
The  policy,  therefore,  which  was  to  produce  the  deep  and 
beneficial  change  that  was  meditated,  must  have  respect  to 
both  sides,  and  be  calculated  to  implant  kind  affections  in 
bosoms  which  at  present  were  filled  only  with  reciprocal  and 
2K 


258  WIRT'S    LIFE     OF 

deadly  hatred.  The  remedy  suggested  by  Mr.  Henry  was 
to  encourage  marriages  between  these  conterminous  enemies  ; 
and  having  succeeded,  in  the  committee  of  the  whole  house, 
in  procuring  the  report  of  a  resolution  to  this  effect,  he  pre 
pared  a  bill  which  he  is  said  to  have  advocated  with  irresist 
ible  earnestness  and  eloquence.*  The  inducements  held  out 

*  This  bill,  which  is  thought  worthy  of  preservation,  as  a  political 
curiosity,  is  as  follows : — 

"A  bill  for  the  encouragement  of  marriages  with  the  Indians. 
"  Whereas,  intermarriages  between  the  citizens  of  this  common 
wealth  and  the  Indians  living  in  its  neighbourhood,  may  have  great 
effect  in  conciliating  the  friendship  and  confidence  of  the  latter,  where 
by  not  only  their  civilization  may  in  some  degree  be  finally  brought 
about,  but  in  the  meantime,  their  hostile  inroads  be  prevented:  for 
ncouraging  such  intermarriages,  Be  it  enacted  by  the  General 
Assembly,  That  if  any  free  white  male  inhabitant  of  this  common 
wealth  shall,  according  to  the  laws  thereof,  enter  into  the  bonds  of 
matrimony  with  an  Indian  female,  being  of  lawful  age,  and  under  no 
precontract  to  any  Indian  male,  and  shall  thereby  induce  her  to  become 
an  inhabitant  of  this  commonwealth,  and  to  live  with  him  in  the  char 
acter  of  a  wife,  such  male  inhabitant,  on  producing  a  certificate  of  such 
marriage,  under  the  hand  and  seal  of  the  person  celebrating  the  same, 

shall  be  entitled  to  receive  a  premium  of pounds,  out  of  any 

unappropriated  money  which  the  treasurer  may  have  in  his  hands,  or 
of  such  money  as  may  hereafter  be  appropriated  to  such  use ;  shall, 

over  and  above  such  premium,  be  entitled  to  the  sum  of pounds, 

for  every  child  proceeding  from  such  marriage,  on  a  certificate  of  the 
birth  thereof,  and  their  apparent  cohabitancy,  under  tne  hand  and  seal 
of  any  one  justice  of  the  peace  of  the  county  in  which  he  resides,  and 
shall,  moreover,  be  exempted  from  all  taxes  on  his  person  and  property 
for  and  during  the  time  of  such  cohabitancy. 

"And  be  it  further  enactp-3,  That  if  any  free  female  inhabitant  of 
this  commonwealth  shall,  in  like  manner,  intermarry  with  any  male 
Indian  of  lawful  age,  they  shall,  on  a  certificate  thereof,  as  aforesaid, 
be.enlitled  to pounds,  to  be  paid  as  aforesaid,  and  laid  out  under 


PATRICK    HENRY.  259 

oy  this  bill,  to  promote  these  marriages,  were,  pecuniary 
bounties  to  be  given  on  the  certificate  of  marriage,  and  to  be 
repeated  at  the  birth  of  each  child ;  exemption  from  taxes  ; 
and  the  free  use  of  a  seminary  of  learning,  to  be  erected  for 
the  purpose,  and  supported  at  the  expense  of  the  state. 

While  Mr.  Henry  continued  a  member  of  the  house,  the 
progress  of  this  bill  was  unimpeded.  It  passed  through  a 
first  and  second  reading,  and  was  engrossed  for  its  final 
passage,  when  his  election  as  governor  took  effect,  and  dis- 

the  direction  of  the  court  of  the  county  within  which  such  marriage 
shall  be  celebrated,  in  the  purchase  of  live  stock,  for  his  and  her  use, 
and  such  male  Indian  shall  be  annually,  on  the  first  day  of  October, 

entitled  to pounds,  to  be  paid  as  aforesaid,  and  laid  out  under 

the  direction  of  the  said  court,  in  the  purchase  of  clothes  for  his  use ; 
and  each  male  child  proceeding  from  such  intermarriage,  shall,  at  the 

age  of be  removed  to  such  public  seminary  of  learning,  as  the 

executive  may  direct,  and  be  there  educated  until  the  age  of  twenty- 
one,  at  the  public  expense,  to  be  defrayed  out  of  such  funds  as  may 
hereafter  be  appropriated  to  the  same.  And  the  governor,  with  the 
advice  of  council,  is  hereby  authorized  and  desired  to  cause  the  benefit 
of  this  provision  to  be  extended  to  all  such  male  children ;  and  if  any 
such  male  Indian  shall  become  an  inhabitant  of  this  commonwealth, 
he  shall  be  moreover  exempted  from  all  taxes  on  his  person  or  the 
property  he  may  acquire. 

"  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  offspring  of  the  intermarriages 
aforesaid,  shall  be  entitled,  in  all  respects,  to  the  same  rights  and 
privileges,  under  the  laws  of  this  commonwealth,  as  if  they  had  pro 
ceeded  from  intermarriages  among  free  white  inhabitants  thereof. 

"  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  executive  do  take  the  most 
effectual  and  speedy  measures  for  promulgating  this  act  to  such  tribe 
or  tribes  of  Indians  as  they  may  think  necessary." 

On  the  third  reading  of  the  bill,  the  first  blank  was  filled  with  ten — 
the  second  with  Jive — the  third  with  ten — the  fourth  with  three — and 
the  fifth  with  ten  years. 


260  WIRT'S     LIFE     OF 

placed  him  from  the  floor  :  on  the  third  day  after  which  event 
the  bill  was  read  a  third  time  and  rejected. 

It  were  a  useless  waste  of  time  to  speculate  on  the  proba 
ble  effects  of  this  measure,  had  it  succeeded.  It  is  considered, 
however,  as  indicative  of  great  humanity  of  character,  and  as 
marked  with  great  boldness,  if  not  soundness  of  policy.  Mr. 
Henry  is  said  to  have  been  extremely  sanguine  as  to  its  effi 
cacy,  and  to  have  supported  it  by  some  of  the  highest 
displays  of  his  eloquence. 

The  other  two  measures  to  which  I  have  adverted,  as 
having  been  patronised  by  Mr.  Henry,  at  this  session,  were, 
the  incorporation  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  church,  and 
what  is  called  "  a  general  assessment."  These  measures 
have  been  frequently  stated,  in  conversation,  as  proofs  of  a 
leaning  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Henry,  toward  an  established 
church,  and  that,  too,  the  aristocratic  church  of  England. 
To  test  the  justness  of  this  charge,  the  journals  of  the  house 
of  delegates  have  been  examined,  and  this  is  the  result  of  the 
evidence  which  they  furnish:  on  the  17th  of  November, 
1784,  Mr.  Matthews  reported  from  the  committee  of  the 
whole  house,  on  the  state  of  the  commonwealth,  the  following 
resolution  : — 

"  Resolved,  That  it  is  the  opinion  of  this  committee,  that 
acts  ought  to  pass  for  the  incorporation  of  all  societies  of  the 
Christian  religion,  which  may  apply  for  the  same.11 

The  ays  and  noes  having  been  called  for,  on  the  passage 
of  this  resolution,  were,  ays,  sixty-two,  noes,  twenty-three ; 
Mr.  Henry  being  with  the  majority. 

The  principle  being  thus  established  in  relation  to  all 
religious  societies,  which  should  desire  a  legal  existence  for 


PATRICK     HENRY.  261 

die  benefit  of  acquiring  and  holding  property  to  the  use  of 
their  respective  churches,  leave  was  given,  on  the  same  day, 
to  bring  in  a  bill  to  incorporate  the  clergy  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  church,  which  had  brought  itself  within  that  prin 
ciple  by  having  applied  for  an  act  of  incorporation ;  and  Mr. 
Henry  was  one,  but  not  the  chairman,*  of  the  committee 
appointed  to  bring  in  that  bill.  How  a  measure  which  holds 
out  to  all  religious  societies,  equally,  the  same  benefit,  can 
be  charged  with  partiality,  because  accepted  by  one  only,  it 
is  not  very  easy  to  discern.  It  would  seem,  to  an  ordinary 
mind,  that,  on  the  same  principle,  the  Christian  religion  itself 
might  be  charged  with  partiality,  since  its  offers,  though 
made  to  all,  are  accepted  but  by  few :  and  it  is  very  certain, 
that  if  Mr.  Henry  is  to  be  suspected  of  a  bias  toward  an 
established  church,  on  account  of  this  vote,  the  charge  will 
reach  some  of  the  foremost  and  best-established  republicans 
in  the  state,  whose  names  stand  recorded  with  Mr.  Henry's 
on  this  occasion,  and  who  hold  to  this  day  the  undiminished 
confidence  of  their  countrymen. 

The  other  measure,  the  general  assessment,  proceeded 
from  a  number  of  petitions  from  different  counties  of  the 
commonwealth,  which  prayed,  that  as  all  persons  enjoyed  the 
benefits  of  religion,  all  might  be  required  to  contribute  to  the 
expense  of  supporting  some  form  of  worship  or  other.  The 
committee  to  whom  these  petitions  were  referred,  reported  a 
bill  whose  preamble  sets  forth  the  grounds  of  the  proceeding, 
and  furnishes  a  conclusive  refutation  of  the  charge  of  par 
tiality  to  any  particular  form  of  religion.  The  bill  is  entitled, 
"  A  bill,  establishing  a  provision  for  teachers  of  the  Christian 

*  The  chairman  was  Mr.  Carter  H.  Harrison ;  the  rest  of  the  com 
mittee  were,  Mr.  Henry,  Mr.  Thomas  Smith,  Mr.  William  Anderson, 
and  Mr.  Tazewell. 


262  WIRT'SLIFEOF 

religion  ;"  and  its  preamble  is  in  the  following  words : — 
"  Whereas  the  general  diffusion  of  Christian  knowledge  hath 
a  natural  tendency  to  correct  the  morals  of  men,  restrain 
their  vices,  and  preserve  the  peace  of  society  ;  which  cannot 
be  effected  without  a  competent  provision  for  learned  teachers, 
who  may  be  thereby  enabled  to  devote  their  time  and  atten 
tion  to  the  duty  of  instructing  such  citizens  as,  from  their 
circumstances  and  want  of  education,  cannot  otherwise  attain 
such  knowledge ;  and  it  is  judged  such  provision  may  be 
made  by  the  legislature,  without  counteracting  the  liberal 
principle  heretofore  adopted  and  intended  to  be  preserved, 
by  abolishing  all  distinctions  of  pre-eminence  amongst  the 
different  societies  or  communities  of  Christians"  The  pro 
visions  of  the  bill  are  in  the  strictest  conformity  with  the 
principles  announced  in  the  close  of  the  preamble ;  the  per 
sons  subject  to  taxes  are  required,  at  the  time  of  giving  in  a 
list  of  their  titheables,  to  declare  to  what  particular  religious 
society  they  chose  to  appropriate  the  sums  assessed  upon 
them,  respectively;  and,  in  the  event  of  their  failing  or  de 
clining  to  specify  any  appropriation,  the  sums  thus  circum 
stanced  are  directed  to  be  paid  to  the  treasurer,  and  applied 
by  the  general  assembly  to  the  encouragement  of  seminaries 
of  learning,  in  the  counties  where  such  sums  shall  arise. 
If  there  be  any  evidence  of  a  leaning  toward  any  particular 
religious  sect  in  this  bill,  or  any  indication  of  a  desire  for  an 
established  church,  the  author  of  these  sketches  has  not  been 
able  to  discover  them.  Mr.  Henry  was  a  sincere  believer  in 
the  Christian  religion,  and  had  a  strong  desire  for  the  suc 
cessful  propagation  of  the  gospel,  but  there  was  no  tincture 
of  bigotry  or  intolerance  in  his  sentiments  ;  nor  have  I  been 
able  to  learn  that  he  had  a  punctilious  preference  for  any 
particular  form  of  worship.  His  faith  regarded  the  vital 


PATRICK    HENRY.  263 

spirit  of  the  gospel,  and  busied  itself  not  at  all  with  external 
ceremonies  or  controverted  tenets. 

Both  these  bills,  "  for  incorporating  the  Protestant  Epis 
copal  church,"  and  "  establishing  a  provision  for  teachers  of 
the  Christian  religion,"  were  reported  after  Mr.  Henry  had 
ceased  to  be  a  member  of  the  house ;  but  the  resolutions  on 
which  they  were  founded  were  adopted  while  he  continued  a 
member,  and  had  his  warmest  support.  The  first  bill  passed 
into  a  law ;  the  last  was  rejected  by  a  small  majority,  on  the 
third  reading. 

The  same  session  afforded  Mr.  Henry  a  double  opportunity 
of  gratifying,  in  the  most  exquisite  manner,  that  naturally 
bland  and  courteous  spirit,  which  so  eminently  distinguished 
his  character.  General  Washington  and  the  Marquis  la 
Fayette,  both  of  them  objects  of  the  warmest  love  and  grati 
tude  to  this  country,  visited  Richmond  in  November.  They 
arrived  on  different  days.  The  general  entered  the  city  on 
the  15th,  and  the  journal  of  the  next  morning  exhibits  the 
following  order : — 

"  The  house  being  informed  of  the  arm  al  of  General 
Washington  in  this  city,  Resolved,  nemine  contradicente, 
that  as  a  mark  of  their  reverence  for  his  character,  and  affec 
tion  for  his  person,  a  committee  of  five  members  be  appointed 
to  wait  upon  him,  with  the  respectful  regard  of  this  house, 
to  express  to  him  the  satisfaction  they  feel  in  the  opportunity 
afforded  by  his  presence  of  offering  this  tribute  to  his  merits ; 
and  to  assure  him,  that  as  they  not  only  retain  the  most 
lasting  impressions  of  the  transcendent  services  rendered 
in  his  late  public  character,  but  have,  since  his  return  to 
private  life,  experienced  proofs  that  no  change  of  situation 
can  turn  his  thoughts  from  the  welfare  of  his  country,  so  his 


264  WIRT   S     LIFE     OF 

happiness  can  never  cease  to  be  an  object  of  their  most 
devout  wishes  and  fervent  supplications. 

"  And  a  committee  was  appointed  of  Mr.  Henry,  Mr.  Jones, 
(of  King  George,)  Mr.  Madison,  Mr.  Carter  H.  Harrison, 
and  Mr.  Carrington." 

To  this  spontaneous  and  unanimous  burst  of  feeling, 
General  Washington  returned  an  answer  marked  with  his 
characteristic  modesty,  and  full  of  the  most  touching  sensi 
bility.  It  is  worthy  of  insertion,  as  showing,  in  a  soft  and 
winning  light,  a  character  with  which  we  are  apt  to  associate 
only  the  images  of  a  dignity  and  reserve,  approaching  to 
sternness.  "  Gentlemen,"  said  he,  "  my  sensibility  is  deeply 
affected  by  this  distinguished  mark  of  the  affectionate  regard 
of  your  honourable  house.  I  lament,  on  this  occasion,  the 
want  of  those  powers  which  would  enable  me  to  do  justice 
to  my  feelings,  and  shall  rely  upon  your  indulgent  report  to 
supply  the  defect ;  at  the  same  time,  I  pray  you  to  present 
for  me,  the  strongest  assurances  of  unalterable  affection  and 
gratitude,  for  this  last  pleasing  and  flattering  attention  of  my 
country." 

The  marquis,  who  had  been  to  France  since  the  close  of 
hostilities,  made  his  entree  on  the  morning  of  the  17th  of 
November;  and  the  house,  immediately  on  its  meeting, 
came  to  the  following  resolution  : — 

"  The  house  being  informed  of  the  arrival,  this  morning, 
of  the  Marquis  de  la  Fayette  in  this  city,  Resolved,  nernine 
contradicente,  that  a  committee  of  five  be  appointed,  to 
present  to  him  the  affectionate  respects  of  this  house,  to 
signify  to  him  their  sensibility  to  the  pleasing  proof  given 


PATRICK     HENRY.  265 

by  this  visit  to  the  United  States,  and  to  this  state  in  particu 
lar,  that  the  benevolent  and  honourable  sentiments  which 
originally  prompted  him  to  embark  in  the  hazardous  fortunes 
of  America,  still  render  the  prosperity  of  its  affairs  an  object 
of  his  attention  and  regard ;  and  to  assure  him,  that  they 
cannot  review  the  scenes  of  blood  arid  danger  through  which 
we  have  arrived  at  the  blessings  of  peace,  without  being 
touched,  in  the  most  lively  manner,  with  the  recollection,  not 
only  of  the  invaluable  services  for  which  the  United  States 
at  large  are  so  much  indebted  to  him,  but  of  that  conspicuous 
display  of  cool  intrepidity  and  wise  conduct,  during  his  com 
mand  in  the  campaign  of  1781,  which,  by  having  so  essen 
tially  served  this  state  in  particular,  have  given  him  so  just 
a  title  to  its  particular  acknowledgments.  That,  impressed 
as  they  thus  are  with  the  distinguished  lustre  of  his  character, 
they  cannot  form  a  wish  more  suitable,  than  that  the  lesson 
it  affords  may  inspire  all  those  whose  noble  minds  may 
emulate  his  glory,  to  pursue  it  by  means  equally  auspicious 
to  the  interests  of  humanity. 

"And  a  committee  was  appointed  of  Mr.  Henry,  Mr. 
Madison,  Mr.  Jones,  (of  King  George,)  Mr.  Matthews,  and 
Mr.  Brent." 

To  this  address,  the  marquis  made  the  following  polite  and 
feeling  answer : — 

"  Gentlemen, 

"  With  the  most  respectful  thanks  to  your  honourable 
body,  permit  me  to  acknowledge,  not  only  the  flattering 
favour  they  are  now  pleased  to  confer,  but  also  the  const  ant. 
partiality,  and  unbounded  confidence  of  this  state,  which  in 
trying  times,  I  have  so  happily  experienced.  Through  the 

23 


266  WIRT'S    LIFE     OF 

continent,  gentlemen,  it  is  most  pleasing  for  me  to  join  with 
my  friends  in  mutual  congratulations  ;  and  I  need  not  add 
what  my  sentiments  must  be  in  Virginia,  where  step  by  step 
have  I  so  keenly  felt  for  her  distress,  so  eagerly  enjoyed  her 
recovery.  Our  armed  force  was  obliged  to  retreat,  but  your 
patriotic  hearts  stood  unshaken ;  and,  while  either  at  that 
period,  or  in  our  better  hours,  my  obligations  to  you  are 
numberless ;  I  am  happy  in  this  opportunity  to  observe, 
that  the  excellent  services  of  your  militia  were  continued 
with  unparalleled  steadiness.  Impressed  with  the  necessity 
of  federal  union,  I  was  the  more  pleased  in  the  command  of 
an  army  so  peculiarly  federal ;  as  Virginia  herself  freely  bled 
in  defence  of  her  sister  states. 

"  In  my  wishes  to  this  commonwealth,  gentlemen,  I  will 
persevere  with  the  same  zeal,  that  once  and  for  ever  has 
devoted  me  to  her.  May  her  fertile  soil  rapidly  increase  her 
wealth — may  all  the  waters  which  so  luxuriantly  flow  within 
her  limits,  be  happy  channels  of  the  most  extensive  trade — 
and  may  she  in  her  wisdom,  and  the  enjoyment  of  prosperity, 
continue  to  give  the  world  unquestionable  proofs  of  her  phi 
lanthropy  and  her  regard  for  the  liberties  of  all  mankind. 

"  LA  FAYETTE  * 

Time  had  now  brought  forward  several  new  political  char 
acters,  who  had  risen  high  in  the  public  estimation :  but  Mr. 
Henry  and  Mr.  Lee  still  kept  their  ground  far  in  the  van.  A 
gentleman  of  great  distinction,  who  began  his  public  career 
in  1783,  found  both  these  eminent  men  in  the  house  of  dele 
gates,  and  heard  them  for  the  first  time  in  debate :  he  served 
through  the  two  sessions  of  that  and  those  of  the  following 
year,  and  has  communicated  to  me  so  vivid  and  interesting  a 
comparison  of  their  merits,  as  they  struck  his  young  and 


PATRICK    HENRY.  267 

ardent  mind,  that  I  cannot  consent  to  withhold  it  from  the 
reader. 

"  1  met  with  Patrick  Henry  in  the  assembly  in  May,  1783. 
I  also  then  met  with  Richard  H.  Lee.  I  lodged  with  Mr. 
Lee  one  or  two  sessions,  and  was  perfectly  acquainted  with 
him,  while  I  was  yet  a  stranger  to  Mr.  Henry.  These  two 
gentlemen  were  the  great  leaders  in  the  house  of  delegates, 
and  were  almost  constantly  opposed :  there  were  many  other 
great  men  who  belonged  to  that  body ;  but,  as  orators,  they 
cannot  be  named  with  Henry  or  Lee.  Mr.  Lee  was  a  pol 
ished  gentleman :  he  had  lost  the  use  of  one  of  his  hands 
but  his  manner  was  perfectly  graceful.  His  language  was 
always  chaste,  and  although  somewhat  too  monotonous,  his 
speeches  were  always  pleasing ;  yet  he  did  not  ravish  your 
senses,  nor  carry  away  your  judgment  by  storm.  His  was 
the  mediate  class  of  eloquence  described  by  Rollin  in  his 
belles  lettres ;  he  was  like  a  beautiful  river,  meandering 
through  a  flowery  mead,  but  which  never  overflowed  its 
banks.  It  was  Henry  who  was  the  mountain  torrent  that 
swept  away  every  thing  before  it :  it  wa&  he  alone  who  thun 
dered  and  lightened :  he  alone  attained  that  sublime  species 
of  eloquence  also  mentioned  by  Rollin. 

"  It  has  been  one  of  the  greatest  pleasures  of  my  life  to 
hear  these  two  great  masters,  almost  constantly  opposed  to 
each  other,  for  several  sessions.  I  had  no  relish  for  any 
other  speaker.  Henry  was  almost  always  victorious.  He 
was  as  much  superior  to  Lee  in  temper  as  in  eloquence ;  for 
while,  with  a  modesty  approaching  almost  to  humility,  he 
would  apologise  to  the  house  for  being  so  often  "  obliged  to 
differ  from  the  honourable  gentleman,  which  he  assured  them, 
was  from  no  want  of  respect  for  him."  Lee  was  frequently 


268  WIRT'S    LIFE    OF 

much  chafed  by  the  opposition ;  and  I  once  heard  him  say 
aloud,  and  petulantly,  after  sustaining  a  great  defeat,  that  £if 
the  votes  were  weighed  instead  of  being  counted,  he  should 
not  have  lost  it.'* 

"  Mr.  Henry  was  inferior  to  Mr.  Lee  in  the  gracefulness 
of  his  action,  and  perhaps  also  the  chasteness  of  his  language ; 
yet  his  language  was  seldom  incorrect,  and  his  address  always 
striking.  He  had  a  fine  blue  eye,  and  an  earnest  manner, 
which  made  it  impossible  not  to'attend  to  him.  His  speaking 
was  unequal,  and  always  rose  with  the  subject  and  the  exi 
gency.  In  this  respect  he  differed  entirely  from  Mr.  Lee, 

*  This  hit  of  Mr.  Lee's  was  thought  a  very  happy  one  at  the  time. 
I  have  heard  it  mentioned  by  several  others  who  were  members  of  the 
house,  particularly  by  Judge  Tyler.  This  gentleman  represented  it 
as  having  occurred  after  a  division  and  count  of  the  house,  and  just  as 
the  members  were  about  to  return  to  their  seats.  A  member  who  was 
in  the  majority,  and  who  was  not  very  remarkable  either  for  intellect 
or  urbanity,  said,  with  a  coarse  laugh,  to  Mr.  Lee, '  Well,  you  see  you 
have  lost  it."  Upon  which  the  latter,  looking  at  him  with  rather  a 
contemptuous  and  sneering  countenance,  answered,  "Yes,  I  have  lost 
it,  but  if  votes  were  weighed  instead  of  being  counted,  I  should  not 
have  lost  it." 

Was  this  thought  original  in  Mr.  Lee,  or  had  he  unconsciously 
borrowed  it  from  the  younger  Pliny  ?  "  Sed  lioc  pluribus  [levius] 
visum  est.  Numerantur  enim  sententice,  non  ponder antur :  nee 
aliud  in  publico  consilio  potest  fieri,  in  quo  nihil  est  tarn  inaequale, 
quam  aequalitas  ipsa;  nan  cum  sit  impar  prudentia,  par  omnium  jus 
est."— PLIN.  Epist.  Lib.  II.  Epist.  XII. 

"Yet  these  reflections,  it  seems,  made  no  impression  upon  the 
majority.  Votes  go  by  number,  not  weight ;  nor  can  it  be  otherwise 
in  assemblies  of  this  kind,  where  nothing  is  more  unequal  than  that 
equality  which  prevails  in  them;  for  though  every  member  has  the 
same  weight  of  suffrage,  every  member  has  not  the  same  strength  of 
judgment."— MCLMOTH'S  Translation  of  Pliny.  London,  1748. 


PATRICK     HENRY  269 

who  was  always  equal,  and  therefore  less  interesting  At 
some  tmes,  Mr.  Henry  would  seem  to  hobble,  (especially  at 
the  beginning  of  his  speeches,)  and  at  others,  his  tones  would 
be  almost  disagreeable  :  yet  it  was  by  means  of  his  tones, 
and  the  happy  modulation  of  his  voice,  that  his  speaking  had 
perhaps  its  greatest  effect.  He  had  a  happy  articulation — a 
clear,  bold,  strong  voice — and  every  syllable  was  distinctly 
uttered.  He  was  always  very  unassuming,  and  very  respect 
ful  toward  his  adversaries ;  the  consequence  was,  that  no 
feeling  of  disgust  or  animosity  was  arrayed  against  him.  He 
was  great  at  a  reply,  and  greater  in  proportion  to  the  pressure 
which  was  bearing  upon  him  ;  and  it  seemed  to  me,  from  the 
frequent  opportunities  of  observation  afforded  me  during  the 
period  of  which  I  have  spoken,  that  the  resources  of  his 
mind  and  of  his  eloquence  were  equal  to  any  drafts  which 
could  possibly  be  made  upon  them." 

This  inequality  in  the  speeches  of  Mr.  Henry  was  imputed 
by  some  of  his  observers  to  art.  He  always  spoke,  they  say, 
for  victory,  and  wishing  to  carry  every  one  with  him,  adapted 
the  different  parts  of  his  discourse  to  their  different  capacities. 
A  critic  of  a  higher  order  would  sometimes  think  him  trifling, 
when  in  truth  he  was  making  a  most  powerful  impression  on 
the  weaker  members  of  the  house.  By  these  means,  it  is 
said,  he  contrived  to  worm  his  way  through  the  whole  body, 
and  to  insinuate  his  influence  into  every  mind.  When  he 
hobbled,  it  was  like  the  bird  that  thus  artfully  seeks  to  decoy 
away  the  foot  of  the  intruder  from  the  precious  deposite  of 
her  brood ;  and  at  the  moment  when  it  would  be  thought 
that  his  strength  was  almost  exhausted,  he  would  spring 
magnificently  from  the  earth,  and  tower  above  the  clouds. 

He  knew  all  the  local  interests  and  prejudices  of  every 
quarter  of  the  state,  and  of  every  county  in  it ;  arid  whether 

23* 


270  WIRT'S     LIFE     OF 

these  prejudices  were  rational  or  irrational,  it  is  said  that  he 
would  appeal  to  them  without  hesitation,  and,  whenever  he 
found  it  necessary,  enlist  them  in  his  cause.  His  address 
on  these  occasions  has  been  highly  admired  even  by  those 
who  have  censured  the  course  as  deficient  in  dignity  and 
candour.  It  was  executed  with  so  much  delicacy  and 
adroitness,  and  covered  under  a  countenance  of  such  apos 
tolic  solemnity,  that  the  persons  on  whom  he  was  operating 
were  unconscious  of  the  design.  Winding  his  way  thus 
artfully  through  the  house,  from  county  to  county,  from 
prejudice  to  prejudice,  with  the  power  of  moving  them,  when 
he  pleased,  from  tears  to  laughter,  from  laughter  to  tears,  of 
astonishing  their  imaginations,  and  overwhelming  their 
judgments  and  hearts,  it  is  easy  to  conceive  how  irresistible 
he  must  have  been.  When  with  these  prodigious  faculties 
the  reader  connects  his  engaging  deportment  out  of  the 
house — the  uncommon  kindness  and  gentleness  of  his  nature 
— the  simplicity,  frankness,  and  amenity  of  his  manners — the 
innocent  playfulness  and  instruction  of  his  conversation — the 
integrity  of  his  life — and  the  high  sense  of  the  services  which 
he  had  rendered  to  the  cause  of  liberty  and  his  country — he 
will  readily  perceive,  that  the  opinions  and  wishes  of  such  a 
man  would  be,  of  themselves,  almost  decisive  of  any  question. 
The  artifice  of  resorting  to  erroneous  local  prejudices,  in  a 
legislative  debate,  is  certainly  not  to  be  commended.  Truth 
stands  in  need  of  no  such  aids.  It  must  be  admitted  that 
there  is  more  purity,  as  well  as  dignity,  in  supporting  a  sound 
measure  by  sound  arguments  only :  and  we  must  be  pre 
pared  to  become  Jesuits,  before  we  can  justify  a  resort  to 
wrong  means  to  promote  even  a  right  end.  In  excuse  of 
Mr.  Henry,  we  have  nothing  to  urge  except  immemorial 
and  almost  universal  usage ;  and  it  is  moreover  highly  pi 


PATRICK      HENRY.  271 

able,  that  many  of  the  instances,  in  which  he  was  accused 
of  resorting  improperly  to  local  prejudices,  were  cases  in  which 
the  questions  were,  from  their  nature,  to  be  decided  in  a  great 
measure  by  local  interests.  Of  this  description  is  the  follow 
ing  one,  now  furnished,  at  my  request,  in  writing,  by  Judge 
Archibald  Stuart,  from  whom  I  had  the  pleasure  to  hear  it 
in  conversation  several  years  ago : — 

"  At  your  request,  I  attempt  a  narrative  of  the  extraordi 
nary  effects  of  Mr.  Henry's  eloquence  in  the  Virginia  legis 
lature,  about  the  year  1784,  when  I  was  present  as  a  member 
of  that  body. 

"  The  finances  of  the  country  had  been  much  deranged 
during  the  war,  and  public  credit  was  at  a  low  ebb;  a  party 
in  the  legislature  thought  it  then  high  time  to  place  the  char 
acter  and  credit  of  the  state  on  a  more  respectable  footing, 
by  laying  taxes  commensurate  with  all  the  public  demands. 
With  this  view,  a  bill  had  been  brought  into  the  house,  and 
referred  to  a  committee  of  the  whole;  in  support  of  which 
the  then  speaker,  (Mr.  Tyler,)  Henry  Tazewell,  Mann  Page, 
William  Ronald,  and  many  other  members  of  great  respecta 
bility,  (including,  to  the  best  of  my  recollection,  Richard  H. 
Lee,  and,  perhaps,  Mr.  Madison,)  took  an  active  part.  Mr. 
Henry,  on  the  other  hand,  was  of  opinion  that  this  was  a 
premature  attempt;  that  policy  required  that  the  people 
should  have  some  repose  after  the  fatigues  and  privations  to 
which  they  had  been  subjected,  during  a  long  and  arduous 
struggle  for  independence. 

"The  advocates  of  the  bill,  in  committee  of  the  whole 
house,  used  their  utmost  efforts,  and  were  successful  in  con 
forming  it  to  their  views,  by  such  a  majority  (say  thirty)  as 
seemed  to  ensure  its  passage.  When  the  committee  rose,  the 


272  WIRT'S    LIFE    OF 

bill  was  instantly  reported  to  the  house ;  when  Mr.  Henry 
who  had  been  excited  and  roused  by  his  recent  defeat,  came 
forward  again  in  all  the  majesty  of  his  power.  For  some 
time  after  he  commenced  speaking,  the  countenances  of  his 
opponents  indicated  no  apprehension  of  danger  to  their 
cause. 

"  The  feelings  of  Mr.  Tyler,  which  were  sometimes  warm, 
could  not  on  that  occasion  be  concealed,  even  in  the  chair. 
His  countenance  was  forbidding,  even  repulsive,  and  his  face 
turned  from  the  speaker.  Mr.  Tazewell  was  reading  a 
pamphlet:  and  Mr.  Page  was  more  than  usually  grave. 
After  some  time,  however,  it  was  discovered  that  Mr.  Tyler's 
countenance  gradually  began  to  relax ;  he  would  occasionally 
look  at  Mr.  Henry ;  sometimes  smile :  his  attention  by  degrees 
became  more  fixed  ;  at  length  it  became  completely  so: — he 
next  appeared  to  be  in  good  humour;  he  leaned  toward  Mr. 
Henry — appeared  charmed  and  delighted,  and  finally  lost  in 
wonder  and  amazement.  The  progress  of  these  feelings  was 
legible  in  his  countenance. 

"  Mr.  Henry  drew  a  most  affecting  picture  of  the  state  of 
poverty  and  suffering  in  which  the  people  of  the  upper  coun 
ties  had  been  left  by  the  war.  His  delineation  of  their  wants 
and  wretchedness  was  so  minute,  so  full  of  feeling,  and  with 
al  so  true,  that  he  could  scarcely  fail  to  enlist  on  his  side 
every  sympathetic  mind.  He  contrasted  the  severe  toil  by 
which  they  had  to  gain  their  daily  subsistence,  with  the 
facilities  enjoyed  by  the  people  of  the  lower  counties.  The 
latter,  he  said,  residing  on  the  salt  rivers  and  creeks,  could 
draw  their  supplies  at  pleasure,  from  the  waters  that  flowed 
by  their  doors  ;  and  then  he  presented  such  a  ludicrous  image 
of  the  members  who  had  advocated  the  bill,  (the  most  of 
whom  were  from  the  lower  counties,)  peeping  and  peering 


PATRICK    HEN  RY.  273 

along  the  shores  of  the  creeks,  to  pick  up  their  mess  of  crabs, 
or  addling  off  to  the  oyster-rocks,  to  rake  for  their  daily 
bread*  as  filled  the  house  with  a  roar  of  merriment.  Mr. 
Tazewell  laid  down  his  pamphlet,  and  shook  his  sides  with 
laughter ;  even  the  gravity  of  Mr.  Page  was  affected ;  a  cor 
responding  change  of  countenance  prevailed  through  the  ranks 
of  the  advocates  of  the  bill,  and  you  might  discover  that  they 
had  surrendered  their  cause.  In  this  they  were  not  disap 
pointed  ;  for  on  a  division,  Mr.  Henry  had  a  majority  of 
upward  of  thirty  against  the  bill." 

If  this  be  a  fair  specimen  of  the  rases  (as  probably  it  is)  in 
which  Mr.  Henry  was  accused  of  appealing  improperly  to 
local  prejudices,  the  censure  seems  undeserved.  It  is  obvious 
that  the  considerations  urged  by  him,  on  this  occasion, 
belonged  properly  to  the  subject,  and  that  the  appeal  to  local 
circumstances  was  fairly  made.  Candour  will  justify  us  in 
looking,  with  great  distrust,  to  the  censures  cast  on  this 
extraordinary  man,  by  rivals  whom  he  had  obscured 

On  the  17th  of  November,  1784,  Mr.  Henry  was  again 
elected  governor  of  Virginia,  to  commence  his  service  from 
the  30th  day  of  the  same  month.  The  communication  made 
by  him  to  the  first  legislature  which  met  after  his  election,  is 
inserted  in  the  Appendix ;  it  is  given  at  large,  as  a  specimen 
of  Mr.  Henry's  style  in  more  extended  compositions  than 
have  yet  been  submitted  to  the  reader,  and  for  the  further 
purpose  of  showing,  that  the  objects  with  which  a  governor 
of  Virginia,  acting  within  the  pale  of  the  constitution,  is  con 
versant  in  time  of  peace,  are  not  such  as  to  shed  much  lustre 

*  At  that  day,  (and  perhaps  still,)  the  poorer  people  on  the  salt 
creeks,  lived  almost  exclusively  on  fish;   passing  whole  days,   and 
sometimes  weeks,  without  seeing  a  groin  of  bread. 
2M 


274  WIRT'S     LIFE     OF 

on  his  character,  or  to  solicit  very  powerfully  the  attention  of 
his  biographer.* 

In  examining  the  public  archives  of  this  date,  there  is  a 
circumstance  whose  frequent  and  indeed  constant  recurrence, 
presses  itself  most  painfully  on  the  attention :  I  mean  the 
resignation  of  state  officers,  on  the  plea  of  a  necessity  to  resort 
to  some  more  effectual  means  of  subsistence.  It  is  not  gene 
rally  known,  that  the  councils  of  Virginia  were,  during  the 
period  of  which  we  are  now  speaking,  enlightened  and  adorned 
by  some  of  the  brightest  of  her  sons :  much  less  is  it  known 
that  they  were  driven  from  those  councils,  by  that  wretched 
policy  which  has  always  regulated  the  salaries  of  officers  in 
Virginia.  The  letters  of  resignation,  during  the  years  1734, 
1785,  and  1786,  which  now  stand  on  the  public  files,  afford 
the  best  comment  on  this  policy.  Virginia  lost,  during  those 
years,  the  services  of  such  men  as  have  rarely  existed  in  this 
or  any  other  country ;  and  such  as  she  can  never  hope  to  see 
again  in  her  councils,  until  the  system  of  penury  shall  yield 
to  that  of  liberality.  At  the  close  of  the  war,  indeed,  there 
was  some  apology  for  this  penury ;  the  country  was  wretch 
edly  poor  and  in  debt.  But  this  cause  has  long  since  ceased, 
and  with  it  also  should  cease  the  effect.  Virginia  is  now 
rich,  and  may  fill  her  offices  with  the  flower  of  her  sons ;  but 
can  it  be  expected  that  men  who  wish  to  live  free  from  debt, 
and  to  leave  their  families  independent  at  their  deaths,  will 
relinquish  the  pursuits  by  which  they  are  able  to  effect  these 
objects,  and  enter  upon  a  service  full  of  care,  responsibility, 
and  anxiety  ;  a  service  whose  certain  fruits  (if  it  be  their  only 
dependance)  must  be  a  life  of  pecuniary  embarrassment ;  and 
<'what  is  stiH  worse)  their  wives  and  children,  after  their 

*  See  Appendix,  Note  B. 


P  A  T  R  I  C  K   H '  E  N  R  Y.  275 

deaths,  must  be  cast  on  the  charity  of  a  cold  and  unfeeling 
world .  Ought  such  a  sacrifice  to  be  expected  ?  and  yet 
must  it  not  be  the  inevitable  consequence  of  an  exclusive  de- 
pendance  on  the  salary  of  any  office  in  Virginia,  which  re 
quires  talents  of  the  highest  order  ?* 

These  remarks  are  not  foreign  to  our  story :  in  the  fall  of 
1786,  while  yet  a  year  remained  of  his  constitutional  term, 
Mr.  Henry  was  under  the  necessity  of  retiring  from  the  office 
of  governor.  There  never  was  a  man  whose  style  of  living 
was  more  perfectly  unostentatious,  temperate,  and  simple  ; 
yet  the  salary  had  been  inadequate  to  the  support  of  his  fam 
ily  ;  and,  at  the  end  of  two  years,  he  found  himself  involved 
in  debts  which,  for  the  moment,  he  saw  no  hope  of  paying, 
but  by  the  sacrifice  of  a  part  of  his  estate.  Let  it  be  remem 
bered,  that  this  occurred  in  the  year  1786;  and  let  it  be  fur 
ther  remembered,  that  the  salary  was  then  very  nearly  what 
it  still  remains ! 

In  consequence  of  Mr.  Henry's  declining  a  re-election,  the 

*  How  affecting  is  that  spectacle  which  we  have  seen  of  a  public 
officer,  who,  having  worn  out  the  prime  and  vigour  of  life  in  the  ser 
vice  of  his  country,  instead  of  being  enabled  to  retire,  in  old  age,  to  the 
repose  and  peace  which  he  so  justly  deserved,  is  compelled  to  toil  on 
for  subsistence,  though  trembling,  perhaps,  under  the  weight  of  eighty 
winters,  oppressed  by  debt,  harassed  by  his  creditors,  with  the  cer 
tainty  before  him  of  dying  poor  and  involved ;  and  leaving  his  pos 
terity,  if  he  have  any,  on  the  parish  !  How  forcibly  does  it  remind  us 
of  that  pathetic  exclamation  of  Wolsey : — 

"  O  Cromwell,  Cromwell, 
Had  I  but  served  my  God,  with  half  the  zeal 
I  served  my  king,  he  would  not,  in  mine  age, 
Have  left  me  naked  to  my  enemies  !" 

Is  it  in  reference  to  the  warm  and  generous  state  of  Virginia,  that 
these  reflections  can  be  made,  and  made  too  with  truth  and  justice  ! 


276  WIRT'S    LIFE     OF 

legislature  proceeded  to  appoint  his  successor ;  and  then,  on 
the  succeeding  25th  of  November,  the  house  of  delegates* 
came  to  the  following  resolution  : — 

"  Resolved,  unanimously,  That  a  committee  be  appointed 
to  wait  on  his  excellency  the  governor,  and  present  him  the 
thanks  of  this  house,  for  his  wise,  prudent,  and  upright  ad 
ministration,  during  his  last  appointment  of  chief  magistrate 
of  this  commonwealth,  assuring  him  that  they  retain  a  per 
fect  sense  of  his  abilities,  in  the  discharge  of  the  duties  of 
that  high  and  important  office,  and  wish  him  all  domestic 
happiness,  on  his  return  to  private  life." 

To  this  resolution,  Mr.  Corbin,  one  of  the  committee,  re 
ported  the  following  answer  from  Mr.  Henry : — 

"  Gentlemen, 

"  The  house  of  delegates  have  done  me  distinguished  hon 
our,  by  the  resolution  they  have  been  pleased  to  communi 
cate  to  me  through  you.  I  am  happy  to  find  my  endeavours 
to  discharge  the  duties  of  my  station,  have  met  with  their 
favourable  acceptance. 

"  The  approbation  of  my  country  is  the  highest  reward 
to  which  my  mind  is  capable  of  aspiring,  and  I  shall  return 
to  private  life,  highly  gratified  in  the  recollection  of  this  in 
stance  of  regard  shown  me  by  the  house  ;  having  only  to 
regret  that  my  abilities  to  serve  my  country  have  come  so 
short  of  my  wishes. 

"  At  the  same  time  that  I  make  my  best  acknowledgments 
to  the  house  for  their  goodness,  I  beg  leave  to  express  mv 
particular  obligations  to  you,  gentlemen,  for  the  polite  man 
aer  in  which  this  communication  is  made  to  me." 


PATRICK    HENRY.  277 

On  the  fourth  of  December,  in  the  same  year,  Mr.  Henry 
was  appointed  by  the  legislature,  one  of  seven  deputies  from 
this  commonwealth  to  meet  a  convention  proposed  to  be  held 
m  Philadelphia,  on  the  following  May,  for  the  purpose  of  re 
vising  the  federal  constitution.  On  this  list  of  deputies,  his 
name  stands  next  to  that  of  him,  who  stood  of  right  before 
all  others  in  America  ;  the  order  of  appointment  as  exhibited 
by  the  journals  being  as  follows  :  George  Washington,  Pat 
rick  Henry,  Edmund  Randolph,  John  Blair,  James  Madison, 
George  Mason,  and  George  Wythe. 

The  same  cause,  however,  which  had  constrained  Mr. 
Henry's  retirement  from  the  executive  chair  of  the  state,  dis 
abled  him  now  from  obeying  this  honourable  call  of  his  coun 
try.  On  his  resigning  the  government,  he  retired  to  Prince 
Edward  county,  and  endeavoured  to  cast  about  for  the  means 
of  extricating  himself  from  his  debts.  At  the  age  of  fifty 
years,  worn  down  by  more  than  twenty  years  of  arduous 
service  in  the  cause  of  his  country,  eighteen  of  which  had 
been  occupied  by  the  toils  and  tempests  of  the  revolution,  it 
was  natural  for  him  to  wish  for  rest,  and  to  seek  some  secure 
and  placid  port  in  which  he  might  repose  himself  from  the 
fatigues  of  the  storm.  This  however  was  denied  him;  and 
after  having  devoted  the  bloom  of  youth  and  the  maturity  of 
manhood  to  the  good  of  his  country,  he  had  now  in  his  old 
age  to  provide  for  his  family. 

"  He  had  never?  says  a  correspondent,*  "  been  in  tasy 
circumstances ;  and  soon  after  his  removal  to  Prince  Ed 
ward  county,  conversing  with  his  usual  frankness  with  one 
of  his  neighbours,  he  expressed  his  anxiety  under  the  debts 
which  he  was  not  able  to  pay ;  the  reply  was  to  this  effect : 

*  Judge  Winston. 
24 


278  WIRT'SLTFEOF 

'  Go  back  to  the  bar ;  your  tongue  will  soon  pay  your  debts. 
If  you  will  promise  to  go,  I  will  give  you  a  retaining  fee  on 
the  spot.' 

"  This  blunt  advice  determined  him  to  return  to  the  prac 
tice  of  the  law ;  which  he  did  in  the  beginning  of  1788  ;  and 
during  six  years  he  attended  regularly  the  district  courts  of 
Prince  Edward  and  New  London." 

Direful  must  have  been  the  necessity  which  drove  a  man 
of  Mr.  Henry's  disposition  and  habits,  at  his  time  of  life,  and 
tempest-beaten  as  he  was,  to  resume  the  practice  of  such  a 
profession  as  the  law.  He  would  not,  however,  undertake 
the  technical  duties  of  the  profession ;  his  engagements  were 
confined  to  the  argument  of  the  cause ;  and  his  clients  had 
of  course,  to  employ  other  counsel,  to  conduct  the  pleadings, 
and  ripen  their  cases  for  hearing.  Hence  his  practice  was 
restricted  to  difficult  and  important  cases ;  but  his  great  rep 
utation  kept  him  constantly  engaged ;  he  was  frequently 
called  to  distant  courts ;  the  light  of  his  eloquence  shone  in 
every  quarter  of  the  state,  and  thousands  of  tongues  were 
every  where  employed  in  repeating  the  fine  effusions  of  his 
genius. 

The  federal  constitution,  the  fruit  of  the  convention  at 
Philadelphia,  had  now  come  forth,  and  produced  an  agitation 
which  had  not  been  felt  since  the  returri  of  peace.  The 
friends  and  the  enemies  to  its  adoption  were  equally  zealous 
and  active  in  their  exertions  to  promote  their  respective 
wishes ;  the  presses  throughout  the  continent  teemed  with 
essays  on  the  subject ;  and  the  rostrum,  the  pulpit,  the  field, 
and  the  forest,  rung  with  declamations  and  discussions  of  the 
most  animated  character.  Every  assemblage  of  people,  for 
whatsoever  purpose  met,  either  for  court  or  church,  muster  or 
barbecue,  presented  an  arena  for  the  political  combatants ; 


PATRICK     HENRY.  279 

and  in  some  quarters  of  the  union,  such  was  the  public 
anxiety  of  the  occasion,  that  gentlemen  in  the  habit  of  public 
speaking,  converted  themselves  into  a  sort  of  itinerant 
preachers,  going  from  county  to  county,  and  from  state  to 
state,  collecting  the  people  by  distant  appointments,  and 
challenging  all  adversaries  to  meet  and  dispute  with  them  the 
piopriety  of  the  adoption  of  the  federal  constitution.  All  who 
sought  to  distinguish  themselves  by  public  speaking,  all  can 
didates  for  popular  favour,  and  especially  the  junior  members 
of  the  bar,  flocked  to  these  meetings  from  the  remotest  dis 
tances,  and  entered  the  lists  with  all  the  ardour,  and  gallantry 
of  the  knights  of  former  times  at  their  tilts  and  tournaments. 
Never  was  there  a  theme  more  fruitful  of  discussion,  and 
never  was  there  one  more  amply  or  ably  discussed. 

Of  the  convention  which  was  to  decide  the  fate  of  this 
instrument  in  Virginia,  Mr.  Henry  was  chosen  a  member  for 
the  county  of  Prince  Edward.  Although  the  constitution 
had  come  forth  with  the  sanction  of  the  revered  name  of 
Washington,  and  carried  with  it  all  the  weight  of  popularity 
which  that  name  could  not  fail  to  attach  to  any  proposition, 
it  had  not  the  good  fortune  to  be  approved  by  Mr.  Henry. 
He  was  (to  use  his  own  expression)  "  most  awfully  alarmed" 
at  the  idea  of  its  adoption ;  for  he  considered  it  as  threatening 
the  liberties  of  his  country ;  and  he  determined,  therefore,  to 
buckle  on  once  more  the  armour  which  he  had  hung  up  in 
tne  temple  of  peace,  and  try  the  fortune  of  this,  the  last  of 
his  political  fields. 


SECTION  VI11. 

THE  convention  met  in  Richmond,  on  the  2d  of  June 
1788,  and  exnibited  such  an  array  of  variegated  talents,  as 
had  never  been  collected  before  within  the  limits  of  the  state 
and  such  a  one  as  it  may  well  be  feared  we  shall  never  see 
again.  A  few  of  the  most  eminent  of  these  statesmen  are 
still  alive ;  of  whom,  therefore,  delicacy  forbids  us  to  speak 
as  they  deserve.  Their  powers,  however,  and  the  peculiar 
characters  of  their  intellectual  excellence,  are  so  well  known, 
that  their  names  will  be  sufficient  to  speak  their  respective 
eulogies.  We  may  mention,  therefore,  Mr.  Madison,  the  late 
president  of  the  United  States  ;  Mr.  Marshall,  the  chief-jus 
tice  ;  and  Mr.  Monroe,  now  the  president.  What  will  the 
reader  think  of  a  body,  in  which  men  like  these  were  only 
among  their  equals  !  Yet  such  is  the  fact ;  for  there  were 
those  sages  of  other  days,  Pendleton  and  Wythe ;  there  was 
seen  displayed  the  Spartan  vigour  and  compactness  of  George 
Nicholas ;  and  there  shone  the  radiant  genius  and  sensibility 
of  Grayson  ;  the  Roman  energy  and  the  Attic  wit  of  George 
Mason  was  there ;  and  there,  also,  the  classic  taste  and  har 
mony  of  Edmund  Randolph ;  "  the  splendid  conflagration" 
of  the  high-minded  Innis;  and  the  matchless  eloquence  of 
the  immortal  Henry  !  * 

*  The  debates  and  proceedings  of  this  Convention,  by  Mr.  David 
Robertson,  of  Petersburg,  have  passed  through  two  editions ;  yet  it  is 
believed  that  their  circulation  has  been  principally  confined  to  Vir 
ginia  ;  and  even  in  this  state,  from  the  rapid  progress  of  our  population! 


PATRICK     HENRY.  281 

It  was  not  until  the  4th,  that  the  preliminary  arrangements 
for  the  discussion  were  settled.  Mr.  Pendleton  had  been 
unanimously  elected  the  president  of  the  convention;  but  it 
having  been  determined  that  the  subject  should  be  debated 
in  committee  of  the  whole,  the  house  on  that  day  resolved 
itself  into  committee,  and  the  venerable  Mr.  Wythe  was 
called  to  the  chair.  In  conformity  with  the  order  which 
had  been  taken,  to  discuss  the  constitution,  clause  by  clause, 
the  clerk  now  read  the  preamble,  and  the  two  first  sections ; 
and  the  debate  was  opened  by  Mr.  George  Nicholas.  He 
confined  himself  strictly  to  the  sections  under  consideration, 
and  maintained  their  policy  with  great  cogency  of  argument. 
Mr.  Henry  rose  next,  and  soon  demonstrated  that  his  excur 
sions  were  not  to  be  restrained  by  the  rigour  of  rules. 
Instead  of  proceeding  to  answer  Mr.  Nicholas,  he  commenced 
by  sounding  an  alarm  calculated  to  produce  a  most  powerful 
impression.  The  effect,  however,  will  be  entirely  lost  upon 
the  reader,  unless  he  shall  associate  with  the  speech  which 

that  book  is  supposed  to  be  in,  comparatively,  few  hands.  Hence  it 
has  been  thought  proper  to  give  a  short  sketch  of  Mr.  Henry's  course 
in  this  body.  It  ought  to  be  premised,  however,  that  the  published 
debates  have  been  said,  by  those  who  attended  the  convention,  to 
present  but  an  imperfect  view  of  the  discussions  of  that  body.  In  rela 
tion  to  Mr.  Henry,  they  are  confessedly  imperfect ,  the  reporter  having 
sometimes  dropped  him  in  those  passages  in  which  the  reader  would 
be  most  anxious  to  follow  him.  From  the  skill  and  ability  of  the 
reporter,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  substance  of  the  debates,  as 
well  as  their  general  course,  are  accurately  preserved.  The  work  is. 
therefore,  a  valuable  repository  of  the  arguments  by  which  the  consti 
tution  was  opposed  on  one  hand,  and  supported  on  the  other;  but  h 
must  have  been  utterly  impossible  for  a  man  who  possesses  the  sensi 
bility  and  high  relish  for  eloquence  which  distinguish  the  reporter, 
not  to  have  been  so  far  transported  by  the  excursions  of  Mr.  Henry's 
genius,  as  sometimes,  unconsciously,  to  have  laid  down  his  pen. 
2  N  24* 


•^82  WIRT  S    LIFE     OF 

I  am  about  to  lay  before  him,  that  awful  solemnity  and  look 
of  fearful  portent,  by\*hich  Mr.  Henry  could  imply  even 
more  than  he  expressed ;  and  that  slow,  distinct,  emphatic 
enunciation,  by  which  he  never  failed  to  move  the  souls  of 
his  hearers. 

"  Mr.  Chairman — The  public  mind,  as  well  as  my  own, 
is  extremely  uneasy  at  the  proposed  change  of  government 
Give  me  leave  to  form  one  of  the  number  of  those  who  wish 
to  be  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  reasons  of  this  perilous 
and  uneasy  situation — and  why  we  are  brought  hither  to 
decide  on  this  great  national  question.  I  consider  myself  as 
the  servant  of  the  people  of  this  commonwealth — as  a  sentinel 
over  their  rights,  liberty,  and  happiness.  I  represent  their 
feelings  when  I  say,  that  they  are  exceedingly  uneasy,  being 
brought  from  that  state  of  full  security,  which  they  enjoyed, 
to  the  present  delusive  appearance  of  things.  A  year  ago, 
the  minds  of  our  citizens  were  at  perfect  repose.  Before 
the  meeting  of  the  late  federal  convention  at  Philadelphia,  a 
general  peace  and  a  universal  tranquillity  prevailed  in  this 
country — but  since  that  period,  they  are  exceedingly  uneasy 
and  disquieted.  When  I  wished  for  an  appointment  to  this 
convention,  my  mind  was  extremely  agitated  for  the  situation 
of  public  affairs.  I  conceive  the  republic  to  be  in  extreme 
danger.  If  our  situation  be  thus  uneasy,  whence  has  arisen 
this  fearful  jeopardy  ?  It  arises  from  this  faXaLs.ys.tem — it 
arises  from  a  proposal  to  change  our  government — a  propo 
sal  that  goes  to  the  utter  annihilation  of  the  most  solemn 
engagements  of  the  states — a  proposal  of  establishing  nine 
states  into  confederacy,  to  the  eventual  exclusion  of  four 
states.  It  goes  to  the  annihilation  of  those  solemn  treaties 
we  have  formed  with  foreign  nations.  The  present  circum- 


PATRICK   HENRY.  283 

glances  of  France — the  good  offices  rendered  us  by  that 
kingdom,  require  our  most  faithful  and  most  punctual  adhe 
rence  to  our  treaty  with  her.  We  are  in  alliance  with  the 
Spaniards,  the  Dutch,  the  Prussians :  those  treaties  bound 
us  as  thirteen  states,  confederated  together.  Yet  here  is  a 
proposal  to  sever  that  confederacy.  Is  it  possible  that  we 
shall  abandon  all  our  treaties  and  national  engagements? 
And  for  what?  I  expected  to  have  heard  the  reasons  of 
an  event,  so  unexpected  to  my  mind  and  many  others. 
Was  our  civil  polity  or  public  justice  endangered  or  sapped  ? 
Was  the  real  existence  of  the  country  threatened — or  was 
this  preceded  by  a  mournful  progression  of  events  ?  This 
proposal  of  altering  our  federal  government  is  of  a  most 
alarming  nature.  Make  the  best  of  this  new  government — 
say  it  is  composed  by  any  thing  but  inspiration — you  ought 
to  be  extremely  cautious,  watchful,  jealous  of  your  liberty ; 
for  instead  of  securing  our  rights,  you  may  lose  them  for  ever. 
If  a  wrong  step  be  now  made,  the  republic  may  be  lost  for 
ever.  If  this  new  government  will  not  come  up  to  the  expec 
tation  of  the  people,  and  they  should  be  disappointed,  their 
liberty  will  be  lost,  and  tyranny  must  and  will  arise.  I  repeat 
it  again,  and  I  beg  gentlemen  to  consider,  that  a  wrong  step 
made  now,  will  plunge  us  into  misery,  and  our  republic  will 
be  lost.  It  will  be  necessary  for  this  convention  to  have  a 
faithful  historical  detail  of  the  facts  that  preceded  the  session 
of  the  federal  convention,  and  the  reasons  that  actuated  its 
members  in  proposing  an  entire  alteration  of  government, 
and  to  demonstrate  the  dangers  that  awaited  us  :  if  they 
were  of  such  awful  magnitude,  as  to  warrant  a  proposal  so 
extremely  perilous  as  this,  I  must  assert,  that  this  convention 
has  an  absolute  right  to  a  thorough  discovery  of  every  cir 
cumstance  relative  to  this  great  event.  And  here  I  would 


284  WIRT'S     LIFE     OF 

make  this  inquiry  of  those  worthy  characters  who  composed 
a  part  of  the  late  federal  convention.  I  am  sure  they  were 
fully  impressed  with  the  necessity  of  forming  a  great  conso 
lidated  government,  instead  of  a  confederation.  That  this 
is  a  consolidated  government  is  demonstrably  clear ;  and  the 
danger  of  such  a  government  is  to  my  mind  very  striking. 
I  have  the  highest  veneration  for  those  gentlemen :  but,  sir, 
give  me  leave  to  demand,  what  right  had  they  to  say,  we, 
the  people  ? 

"  My  political  curiosity,  exclusive  of  my  anxious  solicitude 
for  the  public  welfare,  leads  me  to  ask,  who  authorized  them 
to  speak  the  language  of,  loe,  the  people,  instead  of,  we,  the 
states  1  States  are  the  characteristics,  and  the  soul  of  a 
confederation.  If  the  states  be  not  the  agents  of  this  com 
pact,  it  must  be  one  great,  consolidated,  national,  govern 
ment  of  the  people  of  all  the  states.  I  have  the  highest 
respect  for  those  gentlemen  who  formed  the  convention  ;  and 
were  some  of  them  not  here,  I  would  express  some  testimo 
nial  of  esteem  for  them.  America  had,  on  a  former  occasion, 
put  the  utmost  confidence  in  them  ;  a  confidence  which  was 
well-placed ;  and  I  am  sure,  sir,  I  would  give  up  any  thing 
to  them ;  I  would  cheerfully  confide  in  them  as  my  represen 
tatives.  But,  sir,  on  this  great  occasion,  I  would  demand  the 
cause  of  their  conduct.  Even  from  that  illustrious  man,  who 
saved  us  by  his  valour,  I  would  have  a  reason  for  his  conduct 
— that  liberty  which  he  has  given  us  by  his  valour,  tells  me 
to  ask  this  reason — and  sure  I  am,  were  he  here,  he  would 
give  us  that  reason :  but  there  are  other  gentlemen  here  who 
can  give  us  this  information.  The  people  gave  them  no 
power  to  use  their  name.  That  tffey^ceededn^Telr^oweTrir 
perfectly  clear.  It  is  not  mere  curiosity  that  actuates  me — 
1  wish  to  hear  the  real,  actual,  existing  danger,  which  should 


PATRICK    HENRY.  285 

.ead  us  to  take  those  steps  so  dangerous  in  my  conception. 
Disorders  have  arisen  in  other  parts  of  America ;  but  here, 
sir,  no  dangers,  no  insurrection,  or  tumult,  has  happened — 
every  thing  has  been  calm  and  tranquil.  But,  notwithstanding 
this,  we  are  wandering  on  the  great  ocean  of  human  affairs. 
I  see  no  landmark  to  guide  us.  We  are  running  we  know 
not  whither.  Difference  in  opinion  has  gone  to  a  degree  of 
inflammatory  resentment,  in  different  parts  of  the  country, 
which  has  been  occasioned  by  this  perilous  innovation.  The 
federal  convention  ought  to  have  amended  the  old  system — 
for  this  purpose  they  were  solely  delegated :  the  object  of 
their  mission  extended  to  no  other  consideration.  You  must 
therefore  forgive  the  solicitation  of  one  unworthy  member,  to 
know  what  danger  could  have  arisen  under  the  present  con 
federation,  and  what  are  the  causes  of  this  proposal  to  change 
our  government  ?" 

This  inquiry  was  answered  by  an  eloquent  speech  from 
Mr.  Randolph ;  and  the  debate  passed  into  other  hands ;  until 
on  the  next  day,  General  Lee,  in  reference  to  Mr.  Henry's 
opening  speech,  addressed  the  chair,  as  follows : — 

"  Mr.  Chairman — I  feel  every  power  of  my  mind  moved 
by  the  language  of  the  honourable  gentleman,  yesterday. 
The  eclat  and  brilliancy  which  have  distinguished  that  gen 
tleman,  the  honours  with  which  he  has  been  dignified,  and 
the  brilliant"  talents  which  he  has  so  often  displayed,  have 
attracted  my  respect  and  attention.  On  so  important  an 
occasion,  and  before  so  respectable  a  body,  I  expected  a  new 
display  of  his  powers  of  oratory :  but,  instead  of  proceeding 
to  investigate  the  merits  of  the  new  plan  of  government,  the 
worthy  character  informed  us  of  horrors  which  he  felt,  of 


286  WIRT'SLIFEOF 

apprehensions  in  his  mind,  which  made  him  tremblingly 
fearful  of  the  fate  of  the  commonwealth.  Mr.  Chairman, 
was  it  proper  to  appeal  to  the  fear  of  this  house  ?  The 
question  before  us  belongs  to  the  judgment  of  this  house ; 
-  trust  he  is  come  to  judge  and  not  to  alarm.  I  trust  that 
he,  and  every  other  gentleman  in  this  house,  comes  with  a 
firm  resolution,  coolly  and  calmly  to  examine,  and  fairly  and 
impartially  to  determine." 

In  the  further  progress  of  his  speech,  General  Lee  again 
said,  rather  tauntingly,  of  Mr.  Henry — "  The  gentleman  sat 
down  as  he  began,  leaving  us  to  ruminate  on  the  horrors 
with  which  he  opened." 

Mr.  Henry,  rising  immediately  after  these  sarcastic  remarks, 
gave  a  striking  specimen  of  that  dignified  self-command,  and 
that  strict  and  uniform  decorum,  by  which  he  was  so  pre 
eminently  distinguished  in  debate.  Far  from  retorting  the 
sarcasms  of  his  adversary,  he  seemed  to  have  heard  nothing 
but  the  compliments  with  which  they  stood  connected,  and 
rising  slowly  from  his  seat,  with  a  countenance  expressive 
of  unaffected  humility,  he  began  with  the  following  modest 
and  disqualifying  exordium:  "Mr.  Chairman — I  am  much 
obliged  to  the  very  worthy  gentleman  for  his  encomium.  I 
wish  I  was  possessed  of  talents,  or  possessed  of  any  thing, 
that  might  enable  me  to  elucidate  this  great  subject.  I  own, 
sir.  I  am  not  free  from  suspicion.  I  am  apt  to  entertain 
doubts.  I  rose,  on  yesterday,  not  to  enter  upon  the  discussion, 
out.  merely  to  ask  a  question  which  had  arisen  in  my  own 
mind.  When  I  asked  that  question,  I  thought  the  meaning 
oi  rnv  interrogation  was  obvious.  The  fate  of  America  mav 
depend  on  this  question.  Have  they  said,  we,  the  states  J 


PATRICK     HENRY.  287 

Have  they  madeaproposal  of  a  compact  between  slates  ? 
If  they  had,  this  would  be  a  confederation ;  itjs.,.  _otherwise» 
moso  clearly,  a  consolidated'  governrngnt.  The  whole  ques 
tion  turns,  sir,  on  tnat  poor  lutleiaing,  the  expression,  ive, 
the  people,  instead  of,  the  states  of  America." 

He  then  proceeded  to  set  forth,  in  terrible  array,  his  various 
objections  to  the  constitution;  not  confining  himself  to  the 
clauses  under  debate,  but  ranging  through  the  whole  instru 
ment,  and  passing  from  objection  to  objection,  as  they  fol 
lowed  each  other  in  his  mind.  This  departure  from  the  rule 
of  the  house,  although  at  first  view  censurable,  was  insisted 
upon  by  himself  and  his  colleagues,  as  being  indispensable 
to  a  just  examination  of  the  particular  clause  under  conside 
ration  •  because  the  policy  or  impolicy  of  any  provision  did 
not  always  depend  upon  itself  alone,  but  on  other  provisions 
with  which  it  stood  connected,  and,  indeed,  upon  the  whole 
system  of  powers  and  checks  that  were  associated  with  it 
in  the  same  instrument,  and  thus  formed  only  parts  of  one 
entire  whole.  The  truth  of  this  position,  in  relation  to 
some  of  the  provisions,  could  not  be  justly  denied;  and  a 
departure  once  made  from  the  rigour  of  the  rule,  the  debate 
became  at  large,  on  every  part  of  the  constitution ;  the  dis 
putants  at  every  stage  looking  forward  and  backward 
throughout  the  whole  instrument,  without  any  control  other 
than  their  own  discretion.  Thus  freed  from  restraints,  under 
which  his  genius  was  at  all  times  impatient,  uncoupled  and 
let  loose  to  range  the  whole  field  at  pleasure,  Mr.  Henry 
seemed  to  have  recovered,  and  to  luxuriate  in  all  the  powers 
of  his  youth.  He  had,  indeed,  occasion  for  them  all;  for 
while  he  was  supported  by  only  three  effective  auxiliaries, 
opposed  to  him  stood  a  phalanx,  most  formidable  both  for 


288  WIRT'S     LIFE     OF 

talents  and  weight  of  character  •  and  several  of  whom  it 
might  be  said,  with  truth,  that  each  was  "  in  himself  a 
host. ;"  for  at  the  head  of  the  opposing  ranks  stood  Mr.  Pen- 
dleton — Mr.  Wythe — Mr.  Madison — Mr.  Marshall — Mr.  Ni 
cholas — Mr.  Randolph — Mr.  Innis — Mr.  Henry  Lee — and 
Mr.  Corbin.  Fearful  odds  !  and  such  as  called  upon  him 
tor  the  most  strenuous  exertion  of  all  his  faculties.  Nor  did 
he  sink  below  the  occasion.  For  twenty  days,  during  which 
this  great  discussion  continued  without  intermission,  his  efforts 
were  sustained,  not  only  with  undiminished  strength,  but 
with  powers  which  seemed  to  gather  new  force  from  every 
exertion.  All  the  faculties  useful  for  debate  were  found  united 
in  him,  with  a  degree  of  perfection,  in  which  they  are  rarely 
seen  to  exist,  even  separately,  in  different  individuals  :  irony, 
ridicule,  the  purest  wit,  the  most  comic  humour,  exclamations 
that  made  the  soul  start,  the  most  affecting  pathos,  and  the 
most  sublime  apostrophes,  lent  their  aid  to  enforce  his  reason 
ing,  and  to  put  to  flight  the  arguments  of  his  adversaries. 

The  objection  that  the  constitution  substituted  a  consol 
idated  in  lieu  of  a  confederated  government,  and  that  this 
new  consolidated  government  threatened  the  total  annihila 
tion  of  the  state  sovereignties,  was  pressed  by  him  with 
most  masterly  power :  he  said  there  was  no  necessity  for  a 
change  of  government  so  entire  and  fundamental — and  no 
inducement  to  it,  unless  it  was  to  be  found  in  this  splendid 
government,  which  we  were  told  was  to  make  us  a  great 
and  mighty  people.  "  We  have  no  detail,"  said  he,  "  of 
those  great  considerations,  which,  in  my  opinion,  ought  to 
nave  abounded,  before  we  should  recur  to  a  government  of 
this  kind.  Here  is  a  revolution  as  radical  as  that  which 
separated  us  from  Great  Britain.  It  is  as  radical,  if  in  this 
transition  our  rights  and  privileges  are  endangered,  and  the 


0 

PATRICK      HENRY.  289 


sovereignty  of  the    states  be  relinquished :    and  cannot  we 
plainly  see,  that  this  is  actually  the  case?     The  rights  of 
conscience,  trial  by  jury,  liberty  of  the  press,  all  your  immu 
nities  and  franchises,  all  pretensions  to  human  rights  and 
privileges,  are  rendered  insecure,  if  not  lost,  by  this  change 
so   loudly   talked   of  by  some,    and   so  inconsiderately  by 
others.      Is  this   tame  relinquishment  of  rights  worthy  of 
freemen  ?     Is  it  worthy  of  that  manly  fortitude  that  ought 
to    characterize   republicans?     It  is  said  eight  states  have 
adopted  this  plan :    I  declare,  that  if  twelve  states  and  a 
half  had  adopted  it,  I  would  with  manly  firmness,  and  in 
spite  of  an  erring  world,  reject  it.     YOU  are  not  to  inquire 
how  your  trade  may  be  increased,  nor  how  you  are  to  be 
come  "a  great  and  powerful  people,  but~how  yourliberties 
can  be  secured ;   fui'^T^er^  ouglu^Okjlie  direct_ezuLof_ 
your   government.      Is   it  necessary  for   your  liberty,  that 
""you  should  abandon  those  great  rights  by  the  adoption  of 
this  system  ?     Is  the  relinquishment  of  the  trial  by  jury,  and 
the   liberty  of  the  press,  necessary  for  your  liberty  ?   Will 
the    abandonment   of  your  most   sacred  rights  tend  to  the 
security  of  your  liberty  ?     Liberty,  the  greatest  of  all  earthly 
blessings — give  us  that  precious  jewel,  and  you  may  take 
every    thing   else !     But  I  am    fearful    I    have   lived    long 
enough   to   become    an  old-fashioned  fellow.      Perhaps  an 
invincible  attachment  to  the  dearest  rights  of  man,  may,  in 
these  refined,  enlightened  days,  be  deemed  old-fashioned : 
if  so,  I  am  contented  to  be  so :    I  say,  the  time  has  been, 
when  every  pulse  of  my  heart  beat   for    American  liberty, 
and   which,  I  believe,    had  a  counterpart  in  the  breast  of 
every  true  American  ;   but  suspicions  have  gone  forth — sus 
picions  of  my  integrity — publicly  reported  that  my  profes 
sions  are  not  real — twenty-three  years  ago  was  I  supposed 
20  25 


290  WIRT'S    LIFE     OF 

a  traitor  to  my  country :  I  was  then  said  to  be  a  bane  ot 
sedition  because  I  supported  the  rights  of  my  country :  1 
may  be  thought  suspicious,  when  I  say  our  privileges  and 
rights  are  in  danger :  but,  sir,  a  number  of  the  people  of 
this  country  are  weak  enough  to  think  these  things  are  too 
true.  I  am  happy  to  find,  that  the  gentleman  on  the  other 
side  declares  they  are  groundless  :  but,  sir,  suspicion  is  a 
virtue,  as  long  as  its  object  is  the  preservation  of  the  public 
good,  and  as  long  as  it  stays  within  proper  bounds :  should 
it  fall  on  me,  I  am  contented ;  conscious  rectitude  is  a  pow 
erful  consolation :  I  trust  there  are  many  who  think  my 
professions  for  the  public  good  to  be  real.  Let  your  suspi 
cion  look  to  both  sides  :  there  are  many  on  the  other  side, 
who  possibly  may  have  been  persuaded  of  the  necessity  of 
these  measures,  which  I  conceive  to  be  dangerous  to  your 
liberty.  Guard  with  jealous  attention  the  public  liberty. 
Suspect  every  one  who  approaches  that  jewel.  Unfortu 
nately,  nothing  will  preserve  it  but  downright  force :  when 
ever  you  give  up  that  force,  you  are  inevitably  ruined.  I 
am  answered  by  gentlemen,  that  though  I  might  speak  of 
terrors,  yet  the  fact  was,  that  we  were  surrounded  by  none 
of  the  dangers  I  apprehended.  I  conceive  this  new  govern 
ment  to  be  one  of  those  dangers:  it  has  produced  those 
horrors  which  distress  many  of  our  best  citizens.  We  are 
come  hither  to  preserve  the  poor  commonwealth  of  Virginia, 
if  it  can  be  possibly  done  :  something  must  be  done  to  pre 
serve  your  liberty  and  mine.  The  confederation,  this  same 
despised  government,  merits,  in  my  opinion,  the  highest 
encomium :  it  carried  us  through  a  long  and  dangerous  war  : 
it  rendered  us  victorious  in  that  bloody  conflict  with  a  power 
ful  nation  :  it  has  secured  us  a  territory  greater  than  any 
European  monarch  possesses  :  and  shall  a  government  which 


PATRICK     HENRY.  291 

has  been  thus  strong  and  vigorous,  be  accused  of  imbecility, 
and  abandoned  for  want  of  energy  ?  Consider  what  you 
are  about  to  do,  before  you  part  with  this  government.  Take 
longer  time  in  reckoning  things ;  revolutions  like  this  have 
happened  in  almost  every  country  of  Europe  :  similar  exam 
ples  are  to  be  found  in  ancient  Greece  and  ancient  Rome  :  in 
stances  of  the  people  losing  their  liberty  by  their  own  careless 
ness  and  the  ambition  of  a  few.  We  are  cautioned,  by  the  hon 
ourable  gentleman  who  presides,  against  faction  and  turbu 
lence  :  I  acknowledge  that  licentiousness  is  dangerous,  and 
that  it  ought  to  be  provided  against :  I  acknowledge,  also,  the 
new  form  of  government  may  effectually  prevent  it :  yet  there 
is  another  thing  it  will  as  effectually  do — it  will  oppress  and 
ruin  the  people.  There  are  sufficient  guards  placed  against 
faction  and  licentiousness  :  for  when  power  is  given  to  this 
government  to  suppress  these,  or  for  any  other  purpose,  the 
language  it  assumes  is  clear,  express,  and  unequivocal :  but 
when  this  constitution  speaks  of  privileges,  there  is  an  am- 
biguity,  Sir,  a  fatal  ambiguity,  an  ambiguity  which  is 
very  astonishing !" 

The  adoption  of  the  instrument  had  been  maintained 
upon  the  ground  that  it  would  increase  our  military  strength, 
and  enable  us  to  resist  the  lawle^sjamBitio^^  : 

it  had  been  urged,  too,  that  if  the  convention  should  rise 
without  adopting  the  instrument,  disunion  and  anarchy 
would  be  the  certain  consequences.  In  answer  to  these  topics 
he  said — "  Happy  will  you  be,  if  you  miss  the  fate  of  those 
nations,  who,  omitting  to  resist  their  oppressors,  or  negligently 
suffering  their  liberty  to  be  wrested  from  them,  have  groaned 
under  intolerable  despotism  !  Most  of  the  human  race  are 
now  in  this  deplorable  condition.  And  those  nations  who 


292  WIRT'SLIFEOF 

have  gone  in  search  of  grandeur,  power,  and  splendour, 
have  also  fallen  a  sacrifice,  and  been  the  victims  of  their  own 
folly.  While  they  acquired  those  visionary  blessings,  they 
lost  their  freedom. 

"  My  great  objection  to  this  government  is,  that  it  does  not 
leave  us  the  means  of  defending  our  rights,  or  of  waging 
war  against  tyrants.  It  is  urged  by^some  gentlemen,  that 
this  new  plan  will  bring  us  an  acquisition  of  strength,  an 
army,  and  the~lmlitia~~Df  the-  Gtatcs.-^TKi^^is  an  idea  ex- 
tremely  ridiculous  :  gentlemen  cannot  be  in  earnest  This 
acquisition  will  trample  on  your  fallen  liberty  !  Let  my 
beloveoT Americans  guard  against  that  fatal  lethargy  that  has 
pervaded  the  universe.  Have  we  the  means  of  resisting 
disciplined  armies,  when  our  only  defence,  the  militia,  is 
p'ut  into  the  hands  of  congress?  The  honourable  gentle 
man  said,  that  great  danger  would  ensue,  if  the  convention 
rose  without  adopting  this  system.  I  ask,  where  is  that  dan 
ger  ?  I  see  none.  Other  gentlemen  have  told  us  within 
these  walls,  that  the  union  is  gone — or,  that  the  union  will 
be  gone.  Is  not  this  trifling  with  the  judgment  of  their 
fellow-citizens  ?  Till  they  tell  us  the  ground  of  their  fears,  I 
will  consider  them  as  imaginary.  I  rose  to  make  inquiry 
where  those  dangers  were  ;  they  could  make  no  answer :  I 
believe  I  never  shall  have  that  answer.  Is  there  a  disposi 
tion  in  the  people  of  this  country  to  revolt  against  the  domin 
ion  of  laws  ?  Has  there  been  a  single  tumult  in  Virginia  ? 
Have  not  the  people  of  Virginia,  when  labouring  under  the 
severest  pressure  of  accumulated  distresses,  manifested  the 
most  cordial  acquiescence  in  the  execution  of  the  laws  ? 
What  could  be  more  lawful  than  their  unanimous  acquies 
cence  under  general  distresses  ?  Is  there  any  revolution 
in  Virginia  ?  Whither  is  the  spirit  of  A?nerica  gone  ? 


PATRICK     HENRY.  293 

Wlnther  is  the  genius  of  America  fled  ?  It  was  but 
yesterday  when  our  enemies  marched  in  triumph  thi  ough 
our  country.  Yet  the  people  of  this  country  could  not 
be  appalled  by  their  pompous  armaments :  they  stopped 
their  career,  and  victoriously  captured  them !  Where  is 
the  peril  now  compared  to  that  ?  Some  minds  are  agitated 
by  foreign  alarms.  Happily  for  us,  there  isno_real_dan^er 
from  Europe  :  that  country  is  engaged  in  more  arduous  busi 
ness  :  from  that  quarter  there  is  no  cause  of  fear :  you  may 
sleep  in  safety  for  ever  for  them.  Where  is  the  danger  ?  If 
Sir,  there  was  any,  I  would  recur  to  the  American  spirit  to 
defend  us — that  spirit  which  has  enabled  us  to  surmount  the 
greatest  difficulties  :  to  that  illustrious  spirit  I  address  my 
most  fervent  prayer,  to  prevent  our  adopting  a  system  de 
structive  to  liberty.  Let  not  gentlemen  be  told  that  it  is  not 
safe  to  reject  this  government.  WTierefore  is  it  not  safe  ? 
We  are  told  there  are  dangers ;  but  those  dangers  are  ideal ; 
they  cannot  be  demonstrated.  To  encourage  us  to  adopt  it, 
they  tell  us  that  there  is  a  plain,  easy  way  of  getting  amend-. 
mentsT  When  I  come  to  contemplate  this  part,  I  suppose 
that  I  am  mad,  or,  that  my  countrymen  are  so.  The  way 
to  amendment  is,  in  my  conception,  shut.  Let  us  consider 
this  plain,  easy  way? 

He  then  proceeds  to  demonstrate,  that  as  the  constitution 
required  the  concurrence  of  three-fourths  of  the  states  to  any 
amendment,  it  followed  that  six-tenths  of  the  people,  in  four 
of  the  smallest  states,  (not  containing  collectively  one-tenth 
part  of  the  population  of  the  United  States,)  would  have  it  in 
their  power  to  defeat  the  most  salutary  amendments  ;  and 
then  asks,  "  Is  this,  Sir,  an  easy  mode  of  securing  the  public 
liberty  ?  It  is,  Sir,  a  most  fearful  situation,  when  the  most 

25* 


294  WIRT'SLIFEOF 

contemptible  minority  can  prevent  the  alteration  of  the  most 
oppressive  government :  for  it  may,  in  many  respects,  prove 
to  be  such.  Is  this  the  spirit  of  republicanism  ?  What,  Sir, 
is  the  genius  of  democracy  ?  Let  me  read  that  clause  of  the 
bill  of  rights  of  Virginia,  which  relates  to  this :  3d  Art. 
'  That  government  is,  or  ought  to  be,  instituted  for  the  com- 
mon~benetrl,  uiulcction,  and  security  of  the  people,  nation,  or 
community  T^of  all  the  various  modes 'and  forms  of  govern 
ment,  that  is  best  which  is  capable  of  producing  the  greatest 
degree  of  happiness  and  safety,  and  is  most  effectually  secured 
against  the  danger  of  mal-administration ;  and  that  when 
ever  any  government  shall  be  found  inadequate,  or  contrary 
to  these  purposes,  a  majority  of  the  community  hath  an 
indubitable,  unalienable,  and  indefeasible  right  to  reform, 
alter,  or  abolish  it,  in  such  manner  as  shall  be  judged  most 
conducive  to  the  public  weal.'  This,  Sir,  is  the  language  of 
democracy,  that  a  majorityof  ihecommunity  have  a  right 
to  alter  their  government  when  found  to  be  oppressive  ;  but 
how  different  is  the  genius  of  your  new  constitution  from 
this  ?  How  different  from  the  sentiments  of  freemen,  that  a 
contemptible  minority  can  prevent  the  good  of  the  majority  ? 
If,  then,  gentlemen,  standing  on  this  ground,  are  come  to 
that  point,  that  they  are  willing  to  bind  themselves  and  their 
posterity  to  be  oppressed,  /  am  amazed,  and  inexpressibly 
astonished !  If  this  be  the  opinion  of  the  majority,  I  must 
submit ;  but  to  me,  Sir,  it  appears  perilous  and  destructive ; 
I  cannot  help  thinking  so ;  perhaps  it  may  be  the  result  of 
my  age  ;  these  may  be  feelings  natural  to  a  man  of  my 
years,  when  the  American  spirit  has  left  him,  and  his  mental 
powers,  like  the  members  of  the  body,  are  decayed.  J^Sir, 
amendments  are  left  to  the  twentieth,  or  to  the  tenth  part  of 
the  people  of  America,  your  liberty  is  gone  for  ever,  We 


PATRICK     HENRY.  295 

have  heard  that  there  is  a  great  deal  of  bribery  practised  in 
the  house  of  commons  in  England ;  and  that  many  of  the 
members  raised  themselves  to  preferments  by  selling  the 
rights  of  the  people.  But,  sir,  the  tenth  part  of  that  body 
cannot  continue  oppressions  on  the  rest  of  the  people.  Eng 
lish  liberty  is,  in  this  case,  on  a  firmer  foundation  than 
American  liberty.  It  will  be  easily  contrived  to  procure  the 
opposition  of  one  tenth  of  the  people  to  any  alteration,  how 
ever  judicious." 

Mr.  Pendleton  had  repelled  the  idea  of  danger  from  the 
adoption  of  the  constitution,  on  the  ground  of  the  facility 
with  which  the  people  could  recall  their  delegated  powers, 
and  change  their  servants. — "We  will  assemble  in  conven 
tion,"  said  Mr.  Pendleton,  "  wholly  recall  our  delegated  pow 
ers,  or  reform  them  so  as  to  prevent  such  abuse,  and  punish 
our  servants."  In  reply  to  this,  Mr.  Henry  said : — "  The 
honourable  gentleman  who  presides  told  us,  that,  to  prevent 
abuses  in  our  government,  we  will  assemble  in  convention, 
recall  our  delegated  powers,  and  punish  oui  servants  for  abu 
sing  the  trust  reposed  in  them.  Oh,  sir,  we  should  have 
fine  times,  indeed,  if  to  punish  tyrants,  it  were  only  necessary 
to  assemble  the  people  !  Your  arms,  wherewith  you  could 
defend  yourselves,  are  gone !  and  you  have  no  longer  an 
aristocratical,  no  longer  a  democratical  spirit.  Did  you  ever 
read  of  any  revolution  in  any  nation,  brought  about  by  the 
punishment  of  those  in  power,  inflicted  by  those  who  had  no 
power  attain  You  read  of  a  riot  act  in  a  country  which 
is  called  one  of  the  freest  in  the  world,  where  a  few  neigh 
bours  cannot  assemble,  without  the  risk  of  being  shot  by  a 
hired  soldiery,  the  engines  of  despotism.  We  may  see 
such  an  act  in  America.  A  standing jirmy  we^shgJlJuws^ 
also,  to  execute  the  execrable  commands  of  tyranny ;  and 


296  WIRT'S    LIFE    OF 

how  are  you  to  punish  them  ?  Will  you  order  them  to  be 
punished  ?  Who  shall  obey  these  orders  1  Will  your 
mace-bearer  be  a  match  for  a  disciplined  regiment  ?  In 
what  situation  are  we  to  be  ?  The  clause  before  you  gives 
a  power  of  direct  taxation,  unbounded  and  unlimited ;  exclu 
sive  power  of  legislation,  in  all  cases  whatsoever,  for  ten 
miles  square ;  and  over  all  places  purchased  for  the 
erection  of  forts,  magazines,  arsenals,  dock-yards,  $c. 
What  resistance  could  be  made  ?  The  attempt  would 
be  madness.  You  will  find  all  the  strength  of  this  country 
in  the  hands  of  your  enemies;  those  garrisons  will  naturally 
be  the  strongest  places  in  the  country.  Your  militia  is  given 
up  to  congress,  also,  in  another  part  of  this  plan ;  they  will, 
therefore,  act  as  they  think  proper ;  all  power  will  be  in 
their  own  possession;  you  cannot  force  them  to  receive 
their  punishment." 

He  continued  to  ridicule  very  successfully  the  alluring  idea 
of  the  expected  splendour  of  the  new  government,  and  the 
imaginary  checks  and  balances  which  were  said  to  exist  in 
this  constitution  :  "  If  we  admit,"  said  he,  "  this  consolidated 
government,  it  will  be  because  we  like  a  great  splendid  one. 
Some  way  or  other  we  must  be  a  great  and  mighty  empire  ; 
we  must  have  an  army,  and  a  navy,  and  a  number  of  things ! 
When  the  American  spirit  was  in  its  youth,  the  language 
of  America  was  different :  liberty,  sir,  was  then  the  primary 
object."  And  again :  "  This  constitution  is  said  to  have 
beautiful  features;  when  1  come  to  examine  these  features, 
sir,  they  appear  to  me  horribly  frightful!  Among  other 
deformities,  it  has  an  awful  squinti?ig:  it  squints  towards 
monarchy!  And  does  not  this  raise  indignation  in  the 
breast  of  every  true  American?  Your  president  may 


PATRICK    HENRY.  297 

easilybecome^^king ;  your  senate  is  so  imperfectly  con 
structed,  that  your  dearest  rights  may  be  sacrificed  by  what 
may  be  a  small  minority ;  and  a  very  small  minority  may 
continue,  for  ever,  unchangeable,  this  government,  although 
horridly  defective ;  where  are  your  checks  in  this  govern 
ment?  Your  strong  holds  will  be  in  the  hands  of  your 
enemies ;  it  is  on  a  supposition  that  your  American 
governors  shall  be  honest,  that  all  the  good  qualities  of  this 
government  are  founded ;  but  its  defective  and  imperfect 
construction  puts  it  in  their  power  to  perpetrate  the  worst  of 
mischiefs,  should  they  be  bad  men  ;  and,  sir,  would  not  all 
the  world,  from  the  eastern  to  the  western  hemisphere,  blame 
our  distracted  folly  in  resting  our  rights  upon  the  contin 
gency  of  our  rulers  being  good  or  bad  ?  Show  me  that 
age  and  country,  where  the  rights  and  liberties  of  the  peo 
ple  were  placed  on  tjie__&Ql£Lchance  of  their  rulers  being^ggod 
men,  without  a  consequent  lossot  liEerty  ?  Tsay7  that  the 
loss  of  that  dearest  pi'ivlTege  has" ever  followed,  with  absolute 
certainty,  every  such  mad  attempt.  If  your  American  chief 
be  a  man  of  ambition  and  abilities,  how  easy  is  it  for  him 
to  render  himself  absolute  !  The  army  is  in  his  hands  ;  and, 
if  he  be  a  man  of  address,  it  will  be  attached  to  him  ;  and 
it  will  be  the  subject  of  long  meditation  with  him  to  seize  the 
first  auspicious  moment  to  accomplish  his  design  ;  and,  sir, 
will  the  American  spirit,  solely,  relieve  you  when  this  hap 
pens  ?  I  would  rather  infinitely,  and  I  am  sure  most  of 
this  convention  are  of  the  same  opinion,  have  a  king,  lords, 
and  commons,  than  a  government  so  replete  with  such 
insupportable  evils.  If  we  make  a  king,  we  may  prescribe 
the  rules  by  which  he  shall  rule  his  people,  and  interpose 
such  checks  as  shall  prevent  him  from  infringing  them :  but 
the  president  in  the  field,  at  the  head  of  his  army,  can  prescribe 
2P 


298  WIRT'S    LIFE    OF 


the  terms  on  which  he  shall  reign  master,  so  far  that  it  wiL 
puzzle  any  American  ever  to  get  his  neck  from  under  the 
galling  yoke.  I  cannot,  with  patience,  think  of  this  idea. 
If  ever  he  violates  the  laws,  one  of  two  things  will  happen : 
he  will  come  at  the  head  of  his  army  to  carry  every  thing 
before  him ;  or  he  will  give  bail,  or  do  what  Mr.  Chief-Jus 
tice  will  order  him.  If  he  be  guilty,  will  not  the  recollection 
of  his  crimes  teach  him  to  make  one  bold  push  for  the  Amer 
ican  throne  ?  Will  not  the  immense  difference  between 
being  master  of  every  thing,  and  being  ignominiously  tried 
and  punished,  powerfully  excite  him  to  make  this  bold  push  ? 
But,  sir,  where  is  the  existing  force  to  punish  him  ?  Can 
he  not,  at  the  head  of  Ins  army,  beat  down  every  opposition  ? 
Away  with  your  president ;  we  shall  have  a  king :  the 
army  will  salute  him  monarch  ;  your  militia  will  leave  you, 
and  assist  in  making  him  king,  and  fight  against  you :  and 
what  have  you  to  oppose  this  force  ?  What  will  then  become 
of  you  and  your  rights  ?  Will  not  absolute  despotism  ensue  ?" 
[Here  Mr.  Henry  strongly  and  pathetically  expatiated  on 
the  probability  of  the  president's  enslaving  America,  and 
the  horrid  consequences  that  must  result.] 

After  the  frank  admission  of  the  reporter,  exhibited  by  the 
words  contained  within  those  brackets,  that  he  had  not 
attempted  to  follow  Mr.  Henry  in  this  pathetic  excursion,  the 
reader  will  perceive,  that  it  would  be  doing  injustice  to  the 
memory  of  that  eminent  man,  to  multiply  extracts  from  this 
book,  as  specimens  of  his  eloquence.  The  stenographer 
who  should  be  able  to  take  down  Mr.  Henry's  speeches, 
word  for  word,  must  have  other  qualities  besides  the  perfect 
mastery  of  his  art :  he  must  have  the  perfect  mastery  of 
himself,  and  be  able,  for  the  momei  t,  to  play  the  mere 
automaton ;  for  without  such  self-command,  no  man,  who 


PATRICK    HENRY.  299 

had  a  human  heart  in  his  bosom,  could  listen  to  his  startling 
exclamations,  or  horror-breathing  tones,  without  keeping  his 
eyes  immoveably  riveted  upon  the  speaker.  His  dominion 
over  his  hearers  was  so  absolute,  that  it  was  idle  to  think 
of  resisting  him ;  you  would  as  soon  think  of  resisting  the 
lightning  of  heaven.  The  very  tone  of  voice,  in  which  he 
would  address  the  chairman,  when  he  felt  the  inspiration 
of  his  genius  rising — "  Mr.  Chairman !" — and  the  awful 
pause  which  followed  this  call — fixed  upon  him  at  once 
every  eye  in  the  assembly :  and  then  his  own  rapt 
countenance ! — those  eyes  which  seemed  to  beam  with  light 
from  another  world,  and  under  whose  fiery  glance  the  crest 
of  the  proudest  adversary  fell !  his  majestic  attitudes,  and  that 
bold,  strong,  and  varied  action,  which  spoke  forth,  with  so 
much  power,  the  energies  of  his  own  great  spirit,  rendered  his 
person  a  spectacle  so  sublime,  and  so  awfully  interesting,  that 
to  look  in  any  other  direction  when  the  spell  was  upon  him 
was  not  to  be  expected  from  any  man  who  had  eyes  to  see 
and  ears  to  hear.  Little  cause  have  we,  therefore,  to  wonder 
or  to  complain,  that  a  gentleman  of  Mr.  Robertson's  lively 
admiration  of  genius,  and  of  his  quick  and  kindling  sensi 
bility,  was  sometimes  bedimmed  by  his  own  tears,  and  at 
others  torn  from  his  task  by  those  master-flights,  which 
rushed  like  a  mighty  whirlwind  from  the  earth,  and  carried 
up  every  thing  in  their  vortex. 

The  chief  objections  taken  to  the  constitution  are  reduci 
ble  to  the  following  heads  : — 

I.  That  it  was  a  consolidated,  instead  of  a  confederated 
government :  that  in  making  it  so,  the  delegates  at  Philadel 
phia  had  transcended  the  limits  of  their  commission  :  changed 
fundamentally  the  relations  which  the  states  had  chosen  to 
bear  to  each  other  :  annihilated  their  respective  sovereignties 


300  WIRT'SLIFEOF 

destroyed  the  barriers  which  divided  them :  and  converted 
the  whole  into  one  solid  empire.  To  this  leading  objection, 
almost  all  the  rest  had  reference,  and  were  urged  principally 
with  the  view  to  illustrate  and  enforce  it. 

II.  The  vast  and  alarming  array  of  specific^  powers  given 
to  the  general  government,  and  the  wide  door  opened  for  an 
unlimited  extension  of  those  powers,  by  the  clause  which 
authorized  congress  to  pass   all  laws   necessary  to   carry 
the  given  powers  into  effect.     It  was  urged,  that  this  clause 
rendered  the  previous  specification  of  powers  an  idle  illusion ; 
since,  by  the  force  of  construction  arising  from  that  clause, 
congress  might  easily  do  any  thing  and  every  thing  it  chose, 
underthe  pretence  of  giving  effect  to  some  specified  power. 

III.  The  unlimited  power  of  taxation  of  all  kinds :    the 
states  were  no  longer   to  be  required,   in   their   federative 
characters,  to  contribute  their  respective  proportions  toward 
the  expenses   and  engagements  of  the  general  government : 
but  congress  were  authorized  to  go  directly  to  the  pockets 
of  the  people,  and  to  sweep  from  them  en  masse,  from  north 
to  south,  whatever  portion  of  the  earnings  of  the  industrious 
poor  the  rapacity  of  the  general  government,  or  their  schemes 
of  ambitious  grandeur,  might    suggest.     It  was   contended, 
that  such  a  power  could  not  be  exercised,  without  just  com 
plaint,  over  a  country  so  extensive,  and  so  diversified  in  its 
productions  and  the  pursuits  of  its  people :    that  it  was  im 
possible   to   select   any  subject  of  general  taxation  which 
would  not  operate  unequally  on  the  different  sections  of  the 
union,   produce   discontent   and   heart-burnings   among  the 
people,  arid  most  probably  terminate  in   open  resistance  to 
the  laws  :  that  the  representatives  in  congress  were  too  few 


PATRICK     HENRY.  301 

to  carry  with  them  a  knowledge  of  the  wants  and  capacities 
of  the  people  in  the  different  parts  of  a  large  state,  and  that 
the  representation  could  not  be  made  full  enough  to  attain 
that  object,  without  becoming  oppressively  expensive  to 
the  country :  that  hence  taxation  ought  to  be  Jlejtjo  the 
states  themselves,  whose  representation  was  full,  who  best 
knew  the  habits  and  circumstances  of  their  constituents,  and 
on  what  subjects  a  tax  could  be  most  conveniently  laid,  Mr. 
Henry  said  that  he  was  willing  to  grant  this  power  condi 
tionally;  that  is,  upon  the  failure  of  the  states  to  comply 
with  requisitions  from  congress :  but  that  the  absolute  and 
unconditional  grant  of  it,  in  the  first  instance,  filled  his  mind 
with  the  most  awful  anticipations.  It  was  resolved,  he  saw 
clearly,  that  we  must  be  a  great  and  splendid  people ;  and 
that  in  order  to  be  so,  immense  revenues  must  be  raised  from 
the  people :  the  people  were  to  be  bowed  down  under  the 
load  of  their  taxes,  direct  and  indirect ;  and  a  swarm  of 
federal  tax-gatherers  were  to  cover  this  land,  to  blight  every 
blade  of  grass,  and  every  leaf  of  vegetation,  and  consume  its 
productions  for  the  enrichment  of  themselves  and  their  mas 
ters  :  it  was  not  contended,  he  supposed,  but  that  the  state 
legislature,  also,  might  impose  taxes  for  their  own  internal 
purposes :  thus  the  people  were  to  be  doubly  oppressed,  and 
between  the  state  sheriffs  and  the  federal  sheriffs  to  be  ground 
to  dust :  on  this  subject  he  drew  such  a  vivid  and  affecting 
picture  of  these  officers,  entering  in  succession  the  cabin  of 
the  broken-hearted  peasant,  and  the  last  one  rifling  the  poor 
remains  which  the  first  had  left  as  is  said  to  have  drawn 
tears  from  every  eye. 

IV.  The  power  of  raising  armies  and  building  navies,  and 
still   more    emphatically,   the  control  given  to  the  general 

26 


302  WHIT'S  LIFE   OF 

government  over  the  militia  of  the  states,  was  most  strenu 
ously  opposed.  The  power  thus  given  was  a  part  of  the 
means  of  that  aggrandizement  which  was  obviously  medi 
tated,  arid  there  could  be  no  doubt  that  it  would  be  exercised : 
so  that  this  republic,  whose  best  policy  was  peace,  was  to  be 
saddled  with  the  expense  of  maintaining  standing  armies 
and  navies,  useless  for  any  other  purpose  than  to  insult  her 
citizens,  to  afford  a  pretext  for  increased  taxes,  and  an  aug 
mented  public  debt,  and  finally  to  subvert  the  liberties  of  her 
people  :  her  militia,  too,  her  last  remaining  defence,  was  gone. 
"  Congress,"  said  Mr.  Henry,  "  by  the  power  of  taxation — 
by  that  of  raising  an  army  and  navy — and  by  their  control 
over  the  militia — have  the  sword  in  the  one  hand,  and  the 
purse  in  the  other.  Shall  we  be  safe  without  either  ?  Con 
gress  have  an  unlimited  power  over  both ;  they  are  entirely 
given  up  by  us.  Let  him  (Mr.  Madison)  candidly  tell  me 
where  and  when  did  freedom  exist,  when  the  sword  and 
purse  were  given  up  from  the  people  ?  Unless  a  miracle 
in  human  affairs  shall  interpose,  no  nation  ever  did  or  evei 
can  retain  its  liberty,  after  the  loss  of  the  sword  and  the  purse." 
The  unlimited  control  over  the  militia  was  vehemently 
opposed,  on  the  ground,  that  the  marching  militia  from  dis 
tant  states  to  quell  insurrection,  and  repel  invasions,  and 
keeping  the  free  yeomanry  of  the  country  under  the  lash  of 
martial  law,  would,  in  the  first  instance,  produce  an  effect 
extremely  inimical  to  the  peace  and  harmony  of  the  union ; 
and  in  the  next,  harass  the  agricultural  body  6T  the  people 
so  much,  as  to  reconcile  them,  as  a  less  evil,  to  that  curse  of 
nations,  and  bane  of  freedom,  a  standing  army : — and  sec 
ondly,  thts  power  was  opposed,  on  the  ground  that  congress, 
under  the  boundless  charter  of  constructive  power  which  il 
possessed,  might  transfer  to  the  president  the  power  of  call- 


PATRICK    HENRY.  303 

ing  forth  the  militia,  and  thus  enable  him  to  disarm  all  oppo 
sition  to  his  schemes 

J  V.  The  several  clauses  providing  for  the  federaljuolicjarj 
were  objected  to,  on  the  ground  of  the  clashing  jurisdictions 
of  the  state  and  federal  courts  ;  and  secondly,  because  infinite 
power  was  given  to  congress  to  multiply  inferior  federal  courts 
at  pleasure ;  a  power  which  they  would  not  fail  to  exercise, 
in  order  to  swell  the  patronage  of  the  president,  to  their  own 
emolument ;  and  thus  enable  him  to  reward  their  devotion  to 
his  views,  by  bestowing  on  them  and  their  dependants  those 
offices  which  they  had  themselves  created. 

\  VI.  It  was  contended  that  the  trial  by  jury  was  gone  in 
civil  cases,  by  that  clause  which  gives  to  the  supreme  court 
appellate  power  over  the  law  and  the  fact  in  every  case ; 
and  which  thereby  enabled  that  tribunal  to  annihilate  both 
the  verdict  and  judgment  of  the  inferior  courts  :  and  that  in 
criminal  cases  also,  the  trial  by  jury  was  worse  than  gone, 
because  it  was  admitted,  that  the  common  law,  which  alone 
gave  the  challenge  for  favour,  would  not  be  in  force  as  to  the 
federal  courts ;  and  hence  a  jury  might,  in  every  instance,  be 
packed  to  suit  the  purpose  of  the  prosecution. 

f  VII.  The  authority  of  the  president  to  take  the  command 
of  the  armies  of  the  United  States,  in  person,  was  warmly 
resisted,  on  the  ground,  that  if  he  were  a  military  character, 
and  a  man  of  address,  he  might  easily  convert  them  into  an 
engine  for  the  worst  of  purposes. 

VIII.  The  cession  of  the  whole  treaty  making  power  to 
the  president  and  senate,  was  considered  as  one  of  the  most 


304  WIRT'S    LIFE     OF 

formidable  features  in  the  instrument,  inasmuch  as  it  put  it 
in  the  power  of  the  president  and  any  ten  senators,  who  might 
represent  the  five  smallest  states,  to  enter  into  the  most  ruin 
ous  foreign  engagements,  and  even  to  cede  away  by  treaty 
any  portion  of  the  territory  of  the  larger  states  :  it  was  in 
sisted,  that  the  lower  house,  who  were  the  immediate  repre 
sentatives  of  the  people,  instead  of  being  excluded  as  they 
were  by  the  constitution  from  all  participation  in  the  treaty- 
making  power,  ought  at  least  to  be  consulted,  if  not  to  have 
the  principal  agency  in  so  interesting  a  national  act. 

IX.  The  immense  patronage  of  the  president  was  objected 
to  :  because  it  placed  in  his  hands  the  means  of  corrupting 
the  congress,  the  navy,  and  army,  and  of  distributing,  more- 
over,  throughout  the  society,  a  band  of  retainers  in  the  shape 
of  judges,  revenue  officers,  and  tax-gatherers,  which*  would 
render  him  irresistible   in  any  scheme   of  ambition   that  he 
might  meditate  against  the  libertiesjrf  his  country. 

X.  The  irresponsibility  of  the  whole  gang  of  federal  offi 
cers  (as  they  were  called)  was  objected  to  :  there  was  indeed, 
in  some  instances,  a  power  of  impeachment  pretended  to  be 
given,  but  it  was  mere  sham  and  mockery;  since,  instead  of 
being  tried  by  a  tribunal,  zealous  and  interested  to  bring  them 
to  justice,  they  were  to  try  each  other  for  offences,  in  which, 
probably,  they  were  all  mutually  implicated. 

XI.  It  was  insisted,  that  if  we  must  adopt  a  constitution 
ceding  away  such  vast  powers,  express  and  implied,  and  so 
fraught  with  danger  to  the  liberties  of  the  people,  it  ought  at 
least  to  be  guarded  by  a  bill  of  rights  :  that  in  all  free  gov 
ernments,  and  in  the  estimation  of  all  men  attached  to  liberty, 


P  A  T  R  I  C  K     H  E  N  K  Y .  305 

there  were  certain  rights  unalienable — imprescriptible — and 
of  so  sacred  a  character,  that  they  could  not  be  guarded  with 
too  much  caution  :  among  these  were  the  liberty  of  speech 
and  of  the  press — what  security  had  we,  that  even  these  sa 
cred  privileges  would  not  be  invaded  ?  Congress  might  think 
it  necessary,  in  order  to  carry  into  effect  the  given  powers, 
to  silence  the  clamours  and  censures  of  the  people  ;  and,  if 
they  meditated  views  of  lawless  ambition,  they  certainly  will 
so  think :  what  then  would  become  of  the  liberty  of  speech 
and  of  the  press  ? 

Several  objections  of  a  minor  character  were  urged,  such  as  : 

1.  That  the  ambiguity  with  which  the  direction  for  pub 
lishing  the  proceedings  of  congress  was  expressed,  ("from 
time  to  time,")  put  it  in  their  power  to  keep  the  people  in 
utter  ignorance  of  their  proceedings  ;  and  thus  to  seize  the 
public  liberties  "  by  ambuscade." 

2.  That  the  9th  section  of  the  1  st  article,  professing  to  set 
out  restrictions  upon  the  power  of  congress,  gave  them,  by 
irresistible  implication,  the  sovereign  power  over  all  subjects 
not  excepted,  and  thus  enlarged  their  constructive  powers, 
ad  infinitum. 

3.  That  congress  had  the  power  of  involving  the  southern 
states  in  all  the  horrors  which  would  result  from  a  total  eman 
cipation  of  their  slaves  ;  and  that  the  northern  states,  unin 
terested  in  the  consequences  of  such  an  act,  had  a  controlling 
majority,  which  possessed  the  power,  and  would  not  probably 
want  the  inclination  to  effect  it. 

4.  That  the  pay  of  the  members  was  by  the  constitution 
to  be  fixed  by  themselves,  without  limitation  or  restraint* 

2Q  26* 


306  WIRT'SLIFEOF 

"  They  may,  therefore,"  said  Mr.  Henry,  "  indulge  them 
selves  in  the  fullest  extent.  They  will  make  their  compen 
sation  as  high  as  they  please.  I  suppose,  if  they  be  good 
men,  their  own  delicacy  will  lead  them  to  be  satisfied  with 
moderate  salaries.  But  there  is  no  security  for  this,  should 
they  be  otherwise  inclined." 

These  objections,  and  many  others  which  it  were  tedious 
to  enumerate,  were  pressed  upon  the  house  day  after  day, 
with  all  the  powers  of  reasoning  and  of  eloquence;  and 
where  argument  and  declamation  were  found  unavailing,  the 
force  of  ridicule  was  freely  resorted  to.  Thus,  in  relation 
to  the  objection  of  consolidation,  Mr.  Madison  had  said  : — 
"  There  are  a  number  of  opinions  as  to  the  nature  of  the 
government ;  but  the  principal  question  is,  whether  it  be  a 
federal  or  consolidated  government.  In  order  to  judge  prop 
erly  of  the  question  before  us,  we  must  consider  it  minutely 
in  its  principal  parts.  I  conceive,  myself,  that  it  is  of  a  mixed 
nature  : — it  is,  in  a  manner,  unprecedented :  we  cannot 
find  one  express  example  in  the  experience  of  the  world — it 
stands  by  itself.  In  some  respects,  it  is  a  government  of  a 
federal  nature  ;  in  others,  it  is  of  a  consolidated  nature."  He 
then  proceeds  to  point  out  and  discriminate  its  federal  from 
its  national  features.  Mr.  Corbin,  on  the  same  side,  expressed 
himself  satisfied  with  Mr.  Madison's  definition  of  the  instru 
ment  ;  but  begged  leave  to  call  it  by  another  name,  viz.,  "  a 
representative  federal  government)  as  contradistinguished 
from  a  confederacy." 

Mr.  Henry,  in  replying  to  these  gentlemen,  says : — "  This 
government  is  so  new,  it  wants  a  name  f  I  wish  its  other 
novelties  were  as  harmless  as  this.  We  are  told,  however, 
that,  collectively  taken,  it  is  without  an  example  ! — that  it 


PATRICK     HENRY.  307 

is  national  in  this  part,  and  federal  in  that  part,  &c.  We 
may  be  amused,  if  we  please,  by  a  treatise  of  political  anat 
omy.  In  the  brain  it  is  national :  the  stamina  are  federal — 
some  limbs  are  federal,  others  national.  The  senators 
are  voted  for  by  the  state  legislatures — so  far  it  is  federal. 
Individuals  choose  the  members  of  the  first  branch — here 
it  is  national.  It  is  federal  in  conferring  general  pow 
ers;  but  national  in  retaining  them.  It  is  not  to  be  sup 
ported  by  the  states — the  pockets  of  individuals  are  to  be 
searched  for  its  maintenance.  What  signifies  it  to  me, 
that  you  have  the  most  curious  anatomical  description  of 
it  in  its  creation  ?  To  all  the  common  purposes  of  legisla 
tion,  it  is  a  great  consolidation  of  government.  You  are  not 
to  have  the  right  to  legislate  in  any  but  trivial  cases ;  you 
are  not  to  touch  private  contracts  :  you  are  not  to  have  the 
right  of  having  armies  in  your  own  defence  :  you  cannot  be 
trusted  with  dealing  out  justice  between  man  and  man. 
What  shall  the  states  have  to  do  1  Take  care  of  the 
poor — repair  and  make  highways — erect  bridges — and  so 
on,  and  so  on !  Abolish  the  state  legislatures  at  once. 
What  purposes  should  they  be  continued  for  ?  Our  legisla 
ture  will  indeed  be  a  ludicrous  spectacle — 180  men,  march 
ing  in  solemn  farcical  procession,  exhibiting  a  mournful 
proof  of  the  lost  liberty  of  their  country,  without  the  power 
of  restoring  it.  But,  sir,  we  have  the  consolation,  that  it  is 
a  mixed  government !  that  is,  it  may  work  sorely  in  your 
neck ;  but  you  will  have  some  comfort  by  saying,  that  it  was 
a  federal  government  in  its  origin !" 

Notwithstanding  this  ridicule,  however,  thrown  on  some 
of  their  arguments,  Mr.  Henry  did  not  fail,  on  every  proper 
occasion,  to  do  justice  to  the  great  abilities  and  merits  of  his 
adversaries.  To  the  eloquence  of  Col.  Innis  he  paid  a 


508  WIRT'S     LIFE     OF 

memorable  tribute  ;  and  in  one  short  sentence  sketched  a 
picture  of  it  so  vivid,  and  so  faithful,  that  it  would  be  in 
justice  to  both  gentlemen  not  to  give  it  a  place  : — "  That 
honourable  gentleman  is  endowed  with  great  eloquence — 
eloquence  splendid,  magnificent,  and  sufficient  to  shake  the 
human  mind  !"  No  circumlocution  could  have  described 
with  half  the  spirit  and  truth,  that  rare  union  of  pomp  and 
power  which  distinguished  Col.  Innis  ;  whose  car  of  triumph 
was  always  a  chariot  of  war ;  pugn&  vel  pompa,  pariter 
aptus. 

One  of  the  most  singular  instances  on  record  of  the  fallacy 
of  the  human  memory,  occurred  in  the  course  of  these  de 
bates  :  this  was  in  relation  to  the  case  of  Josiah  Philips, 
which  has  been  already  mentioned.  Mr.  Randolph,  in  an 
swer  to  Mr.  Henry's  panegyrics  on  the  constitution  of  the 
state  of  Virginia,  brought  forward  that  case  in  the  following 
terms : — "  There  is  one  example  of  this  violation  (of  the 
state  constitution)  in  Virginia,  of  a  most  striking  and  shock 
ing  nature  ;  an  example  so  horrid,  that  if  I  conceived  my 
country  would  passively  permit  a  repetition  of  it,  dear  as  it 
is  to  me,  I  would  seek  means  of  expatriating  myself  from 
it.  A  man,  who  was  then  a  citizen,  was  deprived  of  his  life 
thus  : — from  a  mere  reliance  on  general  reports,  a  gentleman 
in  the  house  of  delegates  informed  the  house,  that  a 
certain  man  (Josiah  Philips)  had  committed  several  crimes, 
and  was  running  at  large  perpetrating  other  crimes ;  he, 
therefore,  moved  for  leave  to  attaint  him ;  he  obtained  that 
leave  instantly ;  no  sooner  did  he  obtain  it,  than  he  drew 
from  his  pocket  a  bill  ready  written  for  that  effect ;  it  was 
read  three  times  in  one  day,  and  carried  to  the  senate ;  I  will 
not  say  that  it  passed  the  same  day  through  the  senate  ;  but 
he  was  attainted  very  speedily  and  precipitately,  without  any 


PATRICK    HENRY.  309 

proof  better  than  vague  reports  !  Without  being  confronted 
with  his  accusers  and  witnesses  ;  without  the  privilege  of 
calling  for  evidence  in  his  behalf,  he  was  sentenced  to  death, 
and  was  afterwards  actually  executed.  Was  this  arbitrary 
deprivation  of  life,  the  dearest  gift  of  God  to  man,  consistent 
with  the  genius  of  a  republican  government  ?  Is  this  com 
patible  with  the  spirit  of  freedom  ?  This,  sir,  has  made  the 
deepest  impression  in  my  heart,  and  I  cannot  contemplate  it 
without  horror."  Now  the  reader,  by  adverting  to  the  state 
ment  which  has  been  already  given  of  Philips's  case,  and 
which  is  founded  on  record,  will  find  that  there  is  not  one 
word  of  this  eloquent  invective  that  is  consistent  with  the 
facts.  What  makes  the  case  still  more  strange  is,  that  Mr. 
Randolph,  at  the  happening  of  the  occurrence  to  which  he 
alludes,  held  the  double  office  of  clerk  of  the  house  of  dele 
gates,  and  attorney-general  of  the  commonwealth ;  in  the 
first  character,  he  had,  only  ten  years  before,  been  officially 
informed,  that  the  bill  of  attainder  had  not  been  founded  on 
report,  but  on  a  communication  of  the  governor,  enclosing 
the  letter  of  the  commanding  officer  of  the  militia  in  the 
quarter  which  was  the  theatre  of  Philips's  ravages ;  that  that 
letter  had  been  in  due  form  committed  to  the  whole  house  on 
the  state  of  the  commonwealth,  whose  resolutions  led  to  the 
bill  in  question ;  and  that  the  bill,  instead  of  being  read  three 
times  in  one  day,  had  been  regularly,  and  according  to  the 
forms  of  the  house,  read  on  three  several  days ;  while  in  his 
character  of  attorney-general,  he  had  himself  endicted  and 
prosecuted  Philips  for  highway  robbery — confronted  him 
with  the  witnesses,  whose  names  are  given  at  the  foot  of 
the  endictment,  still  extant  among  our  records,  and  endorsed 
in  Mr.  Randolph's  own  hand-writing ;  convicted  him  on 
that  charge,  on  which  charge,  and  on  which  alone,  Philips 


310  WIRT'S     LIFE     OF 

was  regularly  sentenced  and  executed.  Yet,  not  only  Mr. 
Randolph,  but  all  the  other  members  who  had  occasion  to 
advert  to  the  circumstance,  and  even  Mr.  Henry,  on  whom 
it  is  supposed  to  have  been  designed  to  bear,  proceed  in 
their  several  criminations  and  defences,  upon  the  admission 
that  Philips  had  fallen  a  victim  to  the  bill  of  attainder.  Had 
the  incident  been  of  a  common  character,  there  would  have 
been  nothing  strange  in  its  having  been  forgotten ;  but  it  is 
one  of  so  singular  and  interesting  a  nature,  that  this  total 
oblivion  of  it  by  the  principal  actors  themselves  becomes  a 
matter  of  curious  history.* 

The  convention  had  been  attended,  from  its  commence 
ment,  by  a  vast  concourse  of  citizens  of  all  ages  and  condi 
tions.  The  interest  so  universally  felt  in  the  question  itself, 
and  not  less  the  transcendent  talents  which  were  engaged  in 
its  discussion,  presented  such  attractions  as  could  not  be  resist 
ed.  Industry  deserted  its  pursuits,  and  even  dissipation  gave 
up  its  objects,  for  the  superior  enjoyments  which  were  pre 
sented  by  the  hall  of  the  convention.  Not  only  the  people 
of  the  town  and  neighbourhood,  but  gentlemen  from  every 
quarter  of  the  state,  were  seen  thronging  to  the  metropolis, 
and  speeding  their  eager  way  to  the  building  in  which  the 
convention  held  its  meetings.  Day  after  day,  from  morning 
till  night,  the  galleries  of  the  house  were  continually  rilled 
with  an  anxious  crowd,  who  forgot  the  inconvenience  of 
their  situation  in  the  excess  of  their  enjoyment ;  and  far 
from  giving  any  interruption  to  the  course  of  the  debate,  in 
creased  its  interest  and  solemnity  by  their  silence  and  atten 
tion.  No  bustle,  no  motion,  no  sound  was  heard  among 
them,  save  only  a  slight  movement  when  some  new  speaker 

*  See  Appendix.    Note  C. 


PATRICK    HENRY.  311 

arose,  whom  they  were  all  eager  to  see  as  well  as  to  hear; 
or  when  some  masterstroke  of  eloquence  shot  thrilling  along 
their  nerves,  and  extorted  an  involuntary  and  inarticulate 
murmur.  Day  after  day  was  this  banquet  of  the  mind  and 
of  the  heart  spread  before  them,  with  a  delicacy  and  \ariety 
which  could  never  cloy.  There  every  taste  might  find  its 
peculiar  gratifications — the  man  of  wit — the  man  of  feeling 
— the  critic — the  philosopher — the  historian — the  metaphy 
sician — the  lover  of  logic — the  admirer  of  rhetoric — every 
man  who  had  an  eye  for  the  beauty  of  action,  or  an  ear  for 
the  harmony  of  sound,  or  a  soul  for  the  charms  of  poetic 
fancy — in  short,  every  one  who  could  see,  or  hear,  or  feel,  or 
understand,  might  find  in  the  wanton  profusion  and  prodi 
gality  of  that  attic  feast,  some  delicacy  adapted  to  his  peculiar 
taste.  Every  mode  of  attack  and  of  defence,  of  which  the 
human  mind  is  capable,  in  decorous  debate — every  species 
of  weapon  and  armour,  offensive  and  defensive,  that  could  be 
used  with  advantage,  from  the  Roman  javelin  to  the  Par 
thian  arrow,  from  the  cloud  of  JEneas  to  the  shield  of 
Achilles — all  that  could  be  accomplished  by  human  strength, 
and  almost  more  than  human  activity,  was  seen  exhibited  on 
that  celebrated  floor.  Nor  did  the  debate  become  oppres 
sive  by  its  unvarying  formality.  The  stateliness  and  stern 
ness  of  extended  argument  were  frequently  relieved  by  quick 
and  animated  dialogue.  Sometimes  the  conversation  would 
become  familiar  and  friendly.  The  combatants  themselves 
would  seem  pleased  with  this  relief;  forget  that  they  were 
enemies,  and  by  a  sort  of  informal  truce  put  off  their  armour, 
and  sit  down  amicably  together  to  repose,  as  it  were,  in  the 
shade  of  the  same  tree.  By  this  agreeable  intermixture  of 
colloquial  sprightliness  and  brilliancy  with  profound,  and 
learned,  and  vigorous  argument — of  social  courtesy  with 


312  WIRT'S    LIFE    OF 

heroic  gallantry,  the  audience,  far  from  being  fatigued  with 
the  discussion,  looked  with  regret  to  the  hour  of  adjournment. 

In  this  great  competition  of  talents,  Mr.  Henry's  powers 
of  debate  still  shone  pre-eminent.  They  were  now  exhib 
iting  themselves  in  a  new  aspect.  Hitherto  his  efforts, 
however  splendid,  had  been  comparatively  short  and  occa 
sional.  In  the  house  of  burgesses  in  1765,  in  the  congress 
of  1774,  and  the  state  convention  of  1775,  he  had  exhibited 
the  impetuous  charge  of  the  gallant  Francis  the  First :  but 
now,  in  combination  with  this  fiery  force,  he  was  displaying 
all  the  firm  and  dauntless  constancy  of  Charles  the  Fifth. 
No  shock  of  his  adversaries  could  move  him  from  his  ground. 
His  resources  never  failed.  His  eloquence  was  poured  from 
inexhaustible  fountains,  and  assumed  every  variety  of  hue 
and  form  and  motion,  which  could  delight  or  persuade,  in 
struct  or  astonish.  Sometimes  it  was  the  limpid  rivulet 
sparkling  down  the  mountain's  side,  and  winding  its  silver 
course  between  margins  of  moss — then  gradually  swelling 
to  a  bolder  stream,  it  roared  in  the  headlong  cataract,  and 
spread  its  rainbows  to  the  sun — now,  it  flowed  on  in  tran 
quil  majesty,  like  a  river  of  the  west,  reflecting  from  its  pol 
ished  surface,  forest,  and  cliff,  and  sky — anon,  it  was  the 
angry  ocean,  chafed  by  the  tempest,  hanging  its  billows, 
with  deafening  clamours,  among  the  cracking  shrouds,  or 
hurling  them  in  sublime  defiance  at  the  storm  that  frowned 
above. 

Toward  the  close  of  the  session,  an  incident  occurred  of 
a  character  so  extraordinary  as  to  deserve  particular  notice. 
The  question  of  adoption  or  rejection  was  now  approaching. 
The  decision  was  still  uncertain,  and  every  mind  and  every 
heart  was  filled  with  anxiety.  Mr.  Henry  partook  most 
deeply  of  this  feeling ;  and  while  engaged,  as  it  were  in  his 


PATRICK     HENRY.  313 

last  effort,  availed  himself  of  the  strong  sensations  which  he 
knew  to  pervade  the  house,  and  made  an  appeal  to  it  which, 
in  point  of  sublimity,  has  never  been  surpassed  in  any  age 
or  country  of  the  world.  After  describing,  in  accents  which 
spoke  to  the  soul,  and  to  which  every  other  bosom  deeply 
responded,  the  awful  immensity  of  the  question  to  the  present 
and  future  generations,  and  the  throbbing  apprehensions  with 
which  he  looked  to  the  issue,  he  passed  from  the  house  and 
from  the  earth,  and  looking  as  he  said,  "  beyond  that  hori 
zon  which  binds  mortal  eyes,"  he  pointed — with  a  counte 
nance  and  action  that  made  the  blood  run  back  upon  the 
aching  heart — to  those  celestial  beings  who  were  hovering 
over  the  scene,  and  waiting  with  anxiety  for  a  decision  which 
involved  the  happiness  or  misery  of  more  than  half  the  hu 
man  race.  To  those  beings — with  the  same  thrilling  look 
and  action — he  had  just  addressed  an  invocation  that  made 
every  nerve  shudder  with  supernatural  horror — when,  lo  !  a 
storm  at  that  instant  arose,  which  shook  the  whole  building, 
and  the  spirits  whom  he  had  called  seemed  to  have  come  at 
his  bidding.  Nor  did  his  eloquence,  or  the  storm,  imme 
diately  cease — but  availing  himself  of  the  incident,  with  a 
master's  art,  he  seemed  to  mix  in  the  fight  of  his  ethereal 
auxiliaries,  and  "  rising  on  the  wings  of  the  tempest,  to  seize 
upon  the  artillery  of  Heaven,  and  direct  its  fiercest  thunders 
against  the  heads  of  his  adversaries."  The  scene  became 
insupportable  ;  and  the  house  rose  without  the  formality  of 
adjournment,  the  members  rushing  from  their  seats  with  pre 
cipitation  and  confusion.* 

*  The  words  above  quoted  are  those  of  Judge  Archibald  Stewart ; 

a  gentleman  who  was  present,  a  member  of  the  convention,  and  one 

of  those  who  voted  against  the  side  of  the  question  supported  by  Mr. 

Henry.     The  incident,  as  given  in  the  text,  is  wholly  founded  on  the 

2R  27 


314  WIRT'S    LIFE    OF 

But  all  his  efforts  were  in  vain.  Either  the  justice  of  the 
opposing  cause,  or  the  powers  of  his  adversaries,  or  the  pre 
judged  opinions  and  instructions  of  the  members,  rendered 
his  reasoning  and  his  eloquence  equally  unavailing.  Out 
of  a  house,  composed  of  one  hundred  and  sixty-eight  mem 
bers,  the  question  of  ratification  was  carried  by  a  majority 
of  ten.  Mr.  Henry  himself  seemed  to  have  a  presage  of  this 
result.  After  the  storm  which  has  been  mentioned,  Colonel 
Innis,  who,  in  his  character  of  attorney-general,  had  been 
hitherto  attending  a  court  of  oy&r  and  terminer,  came  into 
the  house,  and  the  debate  was  renewed.  Mr.  Henry,  in  an 
swering  him,  closed  the  last  speech  which  he  delivered  on  the 
floor,  with  the  following  remarks  : — 

"  I  beg  pardon  of  this  house  for  having  taken  up  more  time 
than  came  to  my  share ;  and  I  thank  them  for  the  patience 
and  polite  attention  with  which  I  have  been  heard.  If  I 
shall  be  in  the  minority,  I  shall  have  those  painful  sensa 
tions  which  arise  from  a  conviction  of  being  overpowered  in 
a  good  cause.  Yet,  I  will  be  a  peaceable  citizen  !  My  head, 
my  hand,  and  my  heart,  shall  be  free  to  retrieve  the  loss  of 
liberty,  and  remove  the  defects  of  that  system,  in  a  constitu 
tional  way.  I  wish  not  to  go  to  violence,  but  will  wait 
with  hopes  that  the  spirit  which  predominated  in  the  revolu 
tion  is  not  yet  gone  :  nor  the  cause  of  those  who  are  attached 
to  the  revolution  yet  lost — I  shall  therefore  patiently  wait, 
in  expectation  of  seeing  that  government  changed,  so  as  to 
be  compatible  with  the  safety,  liberty,  and  happiness  of  the 
people." 

statements  of  those  who  were  witnesses  of  the  scene ;  and  by  com 
paring  it  with  the  corresponding  passage  in  the  printed  debates,  the 
reader  may  decide  how  far  these  are  to  be  relied  on  as  specimens  of 
Mr.  Henry's  eloquence. 


PATRICK   HENRY.  315 

The  objections,  however,  which  had  been  urged,  and  the 
arguments  by  which  they  had  been  supported,  although  they 
had  not  succeeded  in  preventing  the  ratification  of  the  con 
stitution,  had  produced  a  very  serious  effect  on  the  house. 
Before  their  final  dissolution,  they  agreed  to  a  bill  of  rights, 
and  a  series  of  amendments  (twenty  in  number)  embracing 
and  providing  for  the  objections  of  Mr.  Henry  and  his  asso 
ciates.  A  copy  of  these  amendments,  engrossed  on  parch 
ment,  and  signed  by  the  president  of  the  convention,  was 
ordered  to  be  transmitted  to  congress,  together  with  the  in 
strument  of  ratification.  Similar  copies  were  ordered  to  be 
transmitted  to  the  executives  and  legislatures  of  the  several 
states ;  and  fifty  copies  of  the  ratification  and  proposed 
amendments  were  ordered  to  be  struck  for  the  use  of  each 
county  in  this  commonwealth. 

Mr.  Henry  lost  no  ground  with  the  people,  at  the  time,  for 
the  part  which  he  had  taken  on  this  occasion ;  and  when 
afterward  the  constitution  began  to  develop  its  tendencies  by 
practical  operation,  so  many  of  his  predictions  were  believed 
by  a  majority  of  the  people  of  Virginia  to  be  fulfilled,  and  so 
many  more  in  a  rapid  progress  of  fulfilment,  that  his  charac 
ter  for  political  penetration  rose  higher  than  ever.  That  he 
had  lost  no  ground  at  the  time,  two  sigual  proofs  were  given 
in  the  session  of  assembly  immediately  following  that  of 
the  convention.  The  latter  body  rose  on  the  27th  of  June, 
and  the  assembly  met  on  the  20th  of  October  following. 
This  interval  had  been  too  short  to  permit  the  subsidence  of 
that  high  excitement,  which  the  canvass  of  the  constitution 
had  provoked ;  and  the  assembly  was  consequently  discrim 
inated  by  feelings  of  party  as  strong  and  determined,  as 
those  which  had  characterized  the  convention  itself. 

The  constitution  having  been  adopted  by  a  sufficient  num- 


316  WIRT'S     LIFE     OF 

ber  of  states  to  carry  it  into  effect,  it  became  necessary  at 
this  session  to  provide  for  its  organization,  and,  among  other 
measures,  to  choose  two  senators  to  represent  this  state,  m 
the  congress  of  the  United  States.  For  this  office,  Mr.  Mad 
ison  was  presented  by  those  who  were  at  that  time  distin 
guished  by  the  appellation  of  federalists  ;  by  which  nothing 
more  was  then  meant,  than  that  they  were  advocates  for 
the  adoption  of  the  new  federal  constitution.  The  anti-fede 
ralists,  on  the  contrary,  who  were  alarmed  by  the  vast  pow 
ers  which  they  considered  as  granted  by  the  constitution,  re 
garded  it  as  a  salutary  check  on  the  constructive  extension 
of  those  powers,  and  as  the  best  means  of  securing  those 
amendments  which  they  deemed  essential  to  the  liberties  of 
the  people,  that  the  first  congress  should  be  composed  of 
men  of  their  own  sentiments.  In  opposition  to  Mr.  Madison, 
therefore,  Mr.  Henry  took  the  unusual  liberty  of  nominating 
two  candidates,  Mr.  Richard  H.  Lee  and  Mr.  Grayson ;  and, 
notwithstanding  the  great  accession  of  character  which  Mr. 
Madison  had  acquired  by  the  ability  with  which  he  had 
espoused  the  ratification  of  the  constitution,  those  gentlemen 
were  elected  by  a  considerable  majority. 

At  the  same  session  of  the  assembly,  Mr.  Henry  whose 
mind  seems  to  have  been  filled  with  the  most  oppressive  soli 
citude  by  the  unconditional  adoption  of  the  constitution,  and 
who  brooded  with  correspondent  anxiety  over  the  most  effec 
tive  means  of  procuring  amendments,  moved,  in  the  com 
mittee  of  the  whole  house,  the  following  preamble  and  re 
solutions  : — 

"  Whereas  the  convention  of  delegates  of  the  people  of 
this  commonwealth  did  ratify  a  constitution  or  form  of  gov 


ernment  for  the   United   States,  referred  to  them   for  their 


PATRICK     HENRY.  317 

consideration,  and  did  also  declare  that  sundry  amendments 
to  exceptionable  parts  of  the  same  ought  to  be  adopted  ; 
and  whereas  the  subject-matter  of  the  amendments  agreed  to 
by  the  said  convention  involves  all  the  great,  essential,  and 
unalienable  rights,  liberties,  and  privileges  of  freemen ;  many 
of  which,  if  not  cancelled,  are  rendered  insecure  under  the  said 
constitution,  until  the  same  shall  be  altered  and  amended : — 

"  Resolved,  That  it  is  the  opinion  of  this  committee,  that, 
for  quieting  the  minds  of  the  good  citizens  of  this  common 
wealth — and  securing  their  dearest  rights  and  liberties — and 
preventing  those  disorders  which  must  arise  under  a  govern 
ment  not  founded  in  the  confidence  of  the  people — application 
be  made  to  the  congress  of  the  United  States,  as  soon  as  they 
shall  assemble  under  the  said  constitution,  to  call  a  convention 
for  proposing  amendments  to  the  same,  according  to  the  mode 
therein  directed. 

"  Resolved,  That  it  is  the  opinion  of  this  committee,  that 
a  committee  ought  to  be  appointed  to  draw  up  and  report  to 
the  house,  a  proper  instrument  of  writing,  expressing  the  sense 
of  the  general  assembly,  and  pointing  out  the  reasons  which 
induce  them  to  urge  their  application  thus  early,  for  the  calling 
the  aforesaid  convention  of  the  states. 

"  Resolved,  That  it  is  the  opinion  of  this  committee,  that 
the  said  committee  ought  to  be  instructed  to  prepare  the  draft 
of  a  letter,  in  answer  to  one  received  from  his  excellency 
George  Clinton,  Esq.,  president  of  the  convention  of  New 
York — and  a  circular  letter,  on  the  aforesaid  subject,  to  the 
other  states  in  the  union,  expressive  of  the  wish  of  the  general 
assembly  of  this  commonwealth,  that  they  may  join  in  an 
application  to  the  new  congress,  to  appoint  a  convention  of 
the  states,  so  soon  as  the  congress  shall  assemble  under 
the  new  constitution." 

27* 


318  WIRT'S    LIFE    OF 

These  were  carried  in  committee,  and  immediately  ic- 
ported  to  the  house  ;  when  a  motion  was  made  to  amend 
them,  by  striking  out  from  the  word  "  whereas,"  and  substi 
tuting,  in  lieu  of  the  original,  the  following  preamble  and 
resolutions : — 

"  Whereas,  the  delegates  appointed  to  represent  the  good 
people  of  this  commonwealth,  in  the  late  convention  held  in 
the  month  of  June  last,  did,  by  their  act  of  the  25th  of  the 
same  month,  assent  to  and  ratify  the  constitution,  recom 
mended  on  the  17th  day  of  September,  1787,  by  the  federal 
convention  for  the  government  of  the  United  States,  de 
claring  themselves,  with  a  solemn  appeal  to  the  Searcher 
of  hearts  for  the  purity  of  their  intentions,  under  the  con 
viction,  'that  whatsoever  imperfections  might  exist  in  the 
constitution,  ought  rather  to  be  examined  in  the  mode 
prescribed  therein,  than  to  bring  the  Union  into  danger 
by  a  delay,  with  a  hope  of  obtaining  amendments  previous 
to  the.  ratification.'  And  whereas,  in  pursuance  of  the 
said  declaration,  the  same  convention  did,  by  their  sub 
sequent  act  of  the  27th  June,  aforesaid,  agree  to  such 
amendments  to  the  said  constitution  of  the  government  for 
the  United  States,  as  were  by  them  deemed  necessary 
to  be  recommended  to  the  consideration  of  the  congress 
which  shall  first  assemble  under  the  said  constitution,  to 
be  acted  upon  according  to  the  mode  prescribed  in  the 
fifth  article  thereof;  at  the  same  time  enjoining  it  upon 
their  representatives  in  congress,  to  exert  all  their  influence, 
and  use  all  reasonable  and  legal  methods,  to  obtain  a 
ratification  of  the  foregoing  alterations  and  provisions,  in  the 
manner  provided  by  the  fifth  article  of  the  said  constitution, 
and  in  all  congressional  laws  to  be  passed  in  the  meantime, 


PATRICK    HENRY.  319 

to  conform  to  the  spirit  of  those  amendments  as  far  as  the 
said  constitution  would  admit. 

"  Resolved,  therefore,  that  it  is  the  opinion  of  this  commit 
tee,  that  an  application  ought  to  be  made,  in  the  name  and 
on  the  behalf  of  the  legislature  of  this  commonwealth,  to  the 
congress  of  the  United  States,  so  soon  as  they  shall  assemble 
under  the  said  constitution,  to  pass  an  act  recommending  to 
the  legislatures  of  the  several  states,  the  ratification  of  a  bill 
of  rights,  and  of  certain  articles  of  amendment,  proposed  by 
the  convention  of  this  state,  for  the  adoption  of  the  United 
States ;  and  that,  until  the  said  act  shall  be  ratified  in  pur 
suance  of  the  fifth  article  of  the  said  constitution  of  the 
government  for  the  United  States,  congress  do  conform 
their  ordinances  to  the  true  spirit  of  the  said  bill  of  rights 
and  articles  of  amendment. 

"  Resolved,  that  it  is  the  opinion  of  this  committee,  that 
the  executive  ought  to  be  instructed  to  transmit  a  copy  of 
the  foregoing  resolution  to  the  congress  of  the  United  States, 
so  soon  as  they  shall  assemble,  and  to  the  legislatures  and 
executive  authorities  of  each  state  in  the  union." 

On  this  proposal  of  amendment  a  very  animated  debate 
ensued,  which  resulted  in  its  rejection,  and  the  adoption  of 
the  original  report,  by  a  majority  of  more  than  two  for  one. 

These  two  measures — the  election  of  the  senators  named 
by  Mr.  Henry,  in  opposition  to  so  formidable  a  competitor  as 
Mr.  Madison — and  the  carrying  so  strong  a  measure,  as  the 
call  of  a  new  continental  convention,  for  the  purpose  of 
revising  and  altering  the  constitution — certainly  furnish  the 
most  decisive  proof,  that  his  influence  remained  unimpaired 
by  the  part  which  he  had  taken  in  the  convention  of  the 
state. 


320  WIRT'S   LIFE   OF 

It  was  in  the  course  of  the  debate  which  has  been  just 
mentioned,  that  Mr.  Henry  was  driven  from  his  usual  deco 
rum  into  a  retaliation,  that  became  a  theme  of  great  public 
merriment  at  the  time,  and  has  continued  ever  since  one  of 
the  most  popular  anecdotes  that  relate  to  him.  He  had 
insisted,  it  seems,  with  great  force,  that  the  speedy  adoption 
of  the  amendments  was  the  only  measure  that  could  secure 
the  great  and  unalienable  rights  of  the  freemen  of  this  country 
— that  the  people  were  known  to  be  exceedingly  anxious  for 
this  measure — that  it  was  the  only  step  which  could  reconcile 
them  to  the  new  constitution — and  assure  that  public  content 
ment,  security,  and  confidence,  which  were  the  sole  objects 
of  government,  and  without  which  no  government  could 
stand — that  whatever  might  be  the  individual  sentiments  of 
gentlemen,  yet  the  wishes  of  the  people,  the  foundation  of  all 
authority,  being  known,  they  were  bound  to  conform  to  those 
wishes — that,  for  his  own  part,  he  considered  his  opinion  as 
nothing,  when  opposed  to  those  of  his  constituents  ;  and  that 
he  was  ready  and  willing  at  all  times  and  on  all  occasions, 
"  to  boiu,  with  the  utmost  'defereme^to  the~ majesty  of  the 
people?'- A  young~~gentleman7  on^fe-fexler-alr^sio!e~bf  the 
htmse,  who  had  been  a  member  of  the  late  convention,  and 
had  in  that  body,  received,  on  one  occasion,  a  slight  touch 
of  Mr.  Henry's  lash,  resolved  now,  in  an  ill-fated  moment,  to 
make  a  set  charge  upon  the  veteran,  and  brave  him  to  the 
combat.  He  possessed  fancy,  a  graceful  address,  and  an 
easy,  sprightly  elocution ;  and  had  been  sent  by  his  father, 
(an  opulent  man,  and  an  officer  of  high  rank  and  trust  under 
the  regal  government)  to  finish  his  education  in  the  colleges 
of  England,  and  acquire  the  polish  of  the  court  of  St.  James  ; 
where  he  had  passed  the  whole  period  of  the  American  revo 
lution.  Returning  w:ih  advantages  which  were  rare  in 


PATRICK     HENRY.  321 

this  country,  and  with  the  confidence  natural  to  his  years, 
presuming  a  little  too  far  upon  those  advantages,  he  seized 
upon  the  words,  "  bow  to  the  majesty  of  the  people,"  which 
Mr.  Henry  had  used,  and  rung  the  changes  upon  them 
with  considerable  felicity.  He  denied  the  solicitude  of 
the  people  for  the  amendments,  so  strenuously  urged  on 
the  other  side ;  he  insisted  that  the  people  thought  their 
"great  and  unalienable  rights"  sufficiently  secured  by  the 
constitution  which  they  had  adopted  :  that  the  preamble 
of  the  constitution  itself,  which  was  now  to  be  considered  as 
the  language  of  the  people,  declared  its  objects  to  be, 
among  others,  the  security  of  those  very  rights  ;  the  people 
then  declare  the  constitution  the  guarantee  of  their  rights, 
while  the  gentleman,  in  opposition  to  this  public  declaration 
of  their  sentiments,  insists  upon  his  amendments  as  furnish 
ing  that  guarantee  ;  yet  the  gentleman  tells  us,  that  "  he  bows 
to  the  majesty  of  the  people :"  these  words  he  accompanied 
with  a  most  graceful  bow.  "  The  gentleman,"  he  proceeded, 
"  had  set  himself  in  opposition  to  the  will  of  the  people, 
throughout  the  whole  course  of  this  transaction :  the  people 
approved  of  the  constitution :  the  suffrage  ol  their  constitu 
ents  in  the  last  convention  had  proved  it — the  people  wished, 
most  anxiously  wished,  the  adoption  of  the  constitution,  as 
the  only  means  of  saving  the  credit  and  the  honour  of  the 
country,  and  producing  the  stability  of  the  union  :  the  gen 
tleman,  on  the  contrary,  had  placed  himself  at  the  head 
of  those  who  opposed  its  adoption — yet,  the  gentleman  is 
ever  ready  and  willing,  at  all  times  and  on  all  occasions,  to 
bow  to  the  majesty  of  the  people"  (with  another  profound 
and  graceful  bow.)  Thus  he  proceeded,  through  a  number 
of  animated  sentences,  winding  up  each  one  with  the  same 
words,  sarcastically  repeated,  and  the  accompaniment  of 
2S 


322  WIRT'SLIFEOF 

the  same  graceful  obeisance.  Among  other  things,  he  said 
"  it  was  of  little  importance  whether  a  country  was  ruled 
by  a  despot,  with  a  tiara  on  his  head,  or  by  a  defriagogue  in 
a  red  cloak,  a  caul-bare  wig,"  &c,  (describing  Mr.  Henry's 
dress  so  minutely,  as  to  draw  every  eye  upon  him,)  "although 
he  should  prof  ess  on  all  occasions  to  bow  to  the  majesty  of 
the  people" 

A  gentleman  who  was  present,  and  who,  struck  with 
the  singularity  of  the  attack,  had  the  curiosity  to  number 
the  vibrations  on  those  words,  and  the  accompanying 
action,  states,  that  he  counted  thirteen  of  the  most  grace 
ful  bows  he  had  ever  beheld.  The  friends  of  Mr.  Henry 
considered  such  an  attack  on  a  man  of  his  years  and 
high  character  as  very  little  short  of  sacrilege;  on  the 
other  side  of  the  house,  there  was,  indeed,  a  smothered 
sort  of  dubious  laugh,  in  which  there  seemed  to  be  at 
least  as  much  apprehension  as  enjoyment.  Mr.  Henry 
had  heard  the  whole  of  it  without  any  apparent  mark  of 
attention. 

The  young  gentleman  having  finished  his  philipic, 
very  much  at  least  to  his  own  satisfaction,  took  his  seat, 
with  the  gayest  expression  of  triumph  in  his  countenance — 
"  Heu  !  Nescia  mens  hominum  fati,  sortisque  futures,  /" 
Mr.  Henry  raised  himself  up,  heavily,  and  with  affected 
awkwardness — "  Mr.  Speaker,"  said  he.  "  I  am  a  plain 
man,  and  have  been  educated  altogether  in  Virginia. 
My  whole  life  has  been  spent  among  planters,  and  other 
plain  men  of  similar  education,  who  have  never  had  the 
advantage  of  that  polish  which  a  court  alone  can  give, 
and  which  the  gentleman  over  the  way  has  so  happily 
acquired ;  indeed,  sir,  the  gentleman's  employments  and 
mine  (in  common  with  the  great  mass  of  his  countrymen) 


PATRICK     HENRY  323 

have  been  as  widely  different  as  our  fortunes  ,  for^whjj^-that 
gentleman  was  availinglnmjel£^ojftlie  opportunity  which  a 
splendid  fmuneJjiSor!^^  TTon^rjBuea- 

tion,  mixing  among  the  great7jittending~Te?Bes  ana  courts, 
basking  inthe  beams  of  royal 


^  as 

fa'r  from  tmnliing~of  acquiring  those~polite__ac£omplishrnents 
which  the  gentleman  has  so  successfully  cultivated,  as  that 
gentleman  then  was  from  sharing  in  the  toils  and  dangers  in 
which  his  unpolished  countrymen  were  engaged.  I  will 
not,  therefore,  presume  to  vie  with  the  gentleman  in  those 
courtly  accomplishments,  of  which  he  has  just  given  the 
house  so  agreeable  a  specimen  ;  yet  such  a  bow  as  I  can 
make,  shall  be  ever  at  the  service  of  the  people."  —  Herewith, 
although  there  was  no  man  who  could  make  a  more  grace 
ful  bow  than  Mr.  Henry,  he  made  one  so  ludicrously  awk 
ward  and  clownish,  as  took  the  house  by  surprise,  and  put 
them  into  a  roar  of  laughter.  —  "  The  gentleman,  I  hope,  will 
commiserate  the  disadvantages  of  education  under  which  I 
have  laboured,  and  will  be  pleased  to  remember,  that  I  have 
never  been  a  favourite  with  that  monarch,  whose  gracious 
smile  he  has  had  the  happiness  to  enjoy."  He  pursued  this 
contrast  of  situations  and  engagements,  for  fifteen  or  twenty 
minutes,  without  a  smile,  and  without  the  smallest  token  of 
resentment,  either  in  countenance,  expression,  or  manner. 
"  You  would  almost  have  sworn,"  says  a  correspondent,  "  that 
he  thought  himself  making  his  apology  for  his  own  awk 
wardness,  before  a  full  drawing-room  at  St.  James'.  I  be 
lieve  there  was  not  a  person  that  heard  him,  the  sufferer 
himself  excepted,  who  did  not  feel  every  risible  nerve  affect 
ed.  His  adversary  meantime  hung  down  his  head,  and 


324  win T'S   LIFE  OF 

sinking  lower  and  lower,  until  he  was  almost  concealed  be 
hind  the  interposing  forms,  submitted  to  the  discipline  as 
quietly  as  a  Russian  malefactor,  who  had  been  beaten  with 
the  knout,  till  all  sense  of  feeling  was  lost." 

The  documents  reported  and  adopted  by  the  house  of  del 
egates,  in  consequence  of  the  foregoing  resolutions,  are  the 
following — which  are  given  because  they  are  said  to  be  from 
the  pen  of  Mr.  Henry  : — 

"  Resolved,  That  it  is  the  opinion  of  this  committee,  that 
an  application  ought  to  be  made,  in  the  name  and  on  behalf 
of  the  legislature  of  this  commonwealth,  to  the  congress  of 
the  United  States,  in  the  following  words,  to  wit : — 

"  The  good  people  of  this  commonwealth, 

"  In  convention  assembled,  having  ratified  the  constitution 
submitted  to  their  consideration,  this  legislature  has,  in  con 
formity  to  that  act,  and  the  resolutions  of  the  United  States 
in  congress  assembled,  to  them  transmitted,  thought  proper 
to  make  the  arrangements  that  were  necessary  for  carrying 
it  into  effect.  Having  thus  shown  themselves  obedient  to  the 
voice  of  their  constituents,  all  America  will  find  that  so  far 
as  it  depends  on  them,  that  plan  of  government  will  be  car 
ried  into  immediate  operation.  But  the  sense  of  the  people 
of  Virginia  would  be  but  in  part  complied  with,  and  but 
little  regarded,  if  we  went  no  further.  In  the  very  moment 
of  adoption,  and  coeval  with  the  ratification  of  the  new  plan 
of  government,  the  general  voice  of  the  convention  of  thi« 
state  pointed  to  objects  no  less  interesting  to  the  people  we 
represent,  and  equally  entitled  to  your  attention.  At  the 
same  time  that,  from  motives  of  affection  for  our  sister  states, 


PATRICK     HENRY.  325 

the  convention  yielded  their  assent  to  the  ratification,  they 
gave  the  most  unequivocal  proofs  that  they  dreaded  its  ope 
ration  under  the  present  form. 

"  In  acceding  to  a  government  under  this  impression,  pain 
ful  must  have  been  the  prospect,  had  they  not  derived  con 
solation  from  a  full  expectation  of  its  imperfections  being 
speedily  amended.  In  this  resource,  therefore,  they  placed 
their  confidence — a  confidence  that  will  continue  to  support 
them,  while  they  have  reason  to  believe  they  have  not  cal 
culated  upon  it  in  vain. 

"  In  making  known  to  you  the  objections  of  the  people  of 
this  commonwealth  to  the  new  plan  of  government,  we  deem 
it  unnecessary  to  enter  into  a  particular  detail  of  its  defects, 
which  they  consider  as  involving  all  the  great  and  unalien- 
able  rights  of  freemen  :  For  their  sense  on  this  subject,  we 
refer  you  to  the  proceedings  of  their  late  convention,  and  the 
sense  of  this  general  assembly,  as  expressed  in  their  resolu 
tions  of  the day  of . 

"  We  think  proper,  however,  to  declare  that,  in  our  opin 
ion,  as  those  objections  were  not  founded  on  speculative 
theory,  but  deduced  from  principles  which  have  been  estab 
lished  by  the  melancholy  example  of  other  nations,  in  dif 
ferent  ages — so  they  never  will  be  removed,  until  the  cause 
itself  shall  cease  to  exist.  The  sooner,  therefore,  the  public 
apprehensions  are  quieted,  and  the  government  is  possessed 
of  the  confidence  of  the  people,  the  more  salutary  will  be  its 
operations,  and  the  longer  its  duration. 

"  The  cause  of  amendments  we  consider  as  a  common 
cause  ;  and  since  concessions  have  been  made  from  political 
motives,  which  we  conceive  may  endanger  the  republic,  we 
trust  that  a  commendable  zeal  will  be  shown  for  obtaining 
those  previsions,  which  experience  has  taught  us  are  neces  - 

28 


326  WIRT'SLIFEOF 

sary  to  secure  from  danger  the  unalienable  rights  of  human 
nature. 

"  The  anxiety  with  which  our  countrymen  press  for  the 
accomplishment  of  this  important  end,  will  ill  admit  of 
delay.  The  slow  forms  of  congressional  discussion  and  re 
commendation,  if  indeed  they  should  ever  agree  to  any 
change,  would  we  fear  be  less  certain  of  success.  Happily 
for  their  wishes,  the  constitution  hath  presented  an  alterna 
tive,  by  submitting  the  decision  to  a  convention  of  the  states. 
To  this,  therefore,  we  resort,  as  the  source  from  whence  they 
are  to  derive  relief  from  their  present  apprehensions.  We 
do,  therefore,  in  behalf  of  our  constituents,  in  the  most  ear 
nest  and  solemn  manner,  make  this  application  to  congress, 
that  a  convention  be  immediately  called,  of  deputies  from 
the  several  states,  with  full  power  to  take  into  their  conside 
ration  the  defects  of  this  constitution  that  have  been  sug 
gested  by  the  state  conventions,  and  report  such  amendments 
thereto  as  they  shall  find  best  suited  to  promote  our  common 
interests,  and  secure  to  ourselves,  and  our  latest  posterity,  the 
great  and  unalienable  rights  of  mankind." 

Draft  of  a  letter  to  Governor  Clinton  on  the  same  subject : — 

"  Sir, 

"  The  letter  from  the  convention  of  the  state  of  New- 
York  hath  been  laid  before  us  since  our  present  session. 
The  subject  which  it  contemplated  was  taken  up,  and  we 
have  the  pleasure  to  inform  you  of  the  entire  concurrence  in 
sentiment,  between  that  honourable  body  and  the  represen 
tatives  in  senate  and  assembly  of  the  freemen  of  this  Com 
monwealth.  The  propriety  of  immediately  calling  a  con 
vention  of  the  states,  to  take  into  consideration  the  defects 


PATRICK    HE  NKY.  327 

of  the  constitution  was  admitted;  and  in  consequence 
thereof,  an  application  agreed  to,  to  be  presented  to  the  con 
gress,  so  soon  as  it  shall  be  convened  for  the  accomplish 
ment  of  that  important  end.  We  herewith  transmit  to  your 
excellency,  a  copy  of  this  application,  which  we  request  may 
be  laid  before  your  assembly  at  their  next  meeting.  We 
take  occasion  to  express  our  most  earnest  wishes  that  it  may 
obtain  the  approbation  of  New-York,  and  of  all  other  sister 


Draft  of  a  letter  to  the  several  states  on  the  same  subject : — 

"  The  freemen  of  this  commonwealth,  in  convention  as 
sembled,  having,  at  the  same  time  that  they  ratified  the  fede 
ral  co  stitution,  expressed  a  desire  that  many  parts,  which 
they  considered  as  exceptionable  parts,  should  be  amended — 
the  general  assembly,  as  well  from  a  sense  of  duty  as  a  con 
viction  of  its  defects,  have  thought  proper  to  take  the  earliest 
measures  in  their  power,  for  the  accomplishment  of  this  im 
portant  object.  They  have  accordingly  agreed  upon  an  ap 
plication  to  be  presented  to  the  congress,  so  soon  as  it  shall 
be  assembled,  requesting  that  honourable  body  to  call  a  con 
vention  of  deputies  from  the  several  states,  to  take  the  same 
into  their  consideration,  and  report  such  amendments  as  they 
shall  find  best  calculated  to  answer  the  purpose.  As  we 
conceive  that  all  the  good  people  of  the  United  States  are 
equally  interested  in  obtaining  those  amendments  that  have 
been  proposed,  we  trust  that  there  will  be  a  harmony  in 
their  sentiments  and  measures,  upon  this  very  interesting 
subject.  We  herewith  transmit  to  you  a  copy  of  this  appli 
cation,  and  take  the  liberty  to  subjoin  our  earnest  wishes 
that  it  may  have  your  concurrence." 


328  PATRICK     HENRY. 

In  the  two  remaining  years  during  which  Mr.  Henry 
continued  a  member  of  the  assembly,  I  find  nothing  worthy 
of  particular  remark.  In  the  spring  of  1791,  he  declined  a 
re-election,  with  the  purpose  of  bidding  a  final  adieu  to 
public  life :  and  although  the  tender  of  the  most  honourable 
appointments,  the  solicitations  of  his  numerous  friends  and 
admirers,  and  ultimately  his  own  wishes  conspired  to  draw 
him  from  his  retreat,  "he  never  again  made  his  appearance  in 
a  public  character, 


SECTION   IX. 

MR.  HENRY  still  continued,  however,  rather  through  ne 
cessity  than  choice,  the  practice  of  the  law:  and  in  the 
fall  of  this  year,  1791,  a  cause  came  on  to  be  argued  before 
the  circuit  court  of  the  United  States,  in  which  he  made 
what  has  been  considered  his  most  distinguished  display  of 
professional  talents.  This  was  the  celebrated  case  of  the 
British  debts ;  a  case  in  which,  from  its  great  and  extensive 
interest,  the  whole  power  of  the  bar  of  Virginia  was  em 
barked,  and  which  was  discussed  with  so  much  learning,  ar 
gument,  and  eloquence,  as  to  have  placed  that  bar,  in  the  esti 
mation  of  the  federal  judges,  (if  the  reports  of  the  day  may 
be  accredited,)  above  all  others  in  the  United  States. 

The  cause  was  argued  first  in  1791,  before  Judges  John 
son  and  Blair,  of  the  supreme  court,  and  Griffin,  judge  of 
the  district;  and  afterwards  in  1793,  before  Judges  Jay  and 
Iredell,  and  the  same  district  judge.  Mr.  Henry  was  one  of 
the  counsel  for  the  defendant,  and  argued  the  cause  on  both 
occasions.  The  deep  interest  of  the  question,  in  a  national 
point  of  view,  and  the  manner  in  which  it  involved  more  par 
ticularly  the  honour  of  the  state  of  Virginia,  and  the  fortunes 
of  her  citizens,  had  excited  Mr.  Henry  to  a  degree  of  prepa 
ration  which  he  had  never  before  made ;  and  he  came  forth, 
on  this  occasion,  a  perfect  master  of  every  principle  of  law, 
national  and  municipal,  which  touched  the  subject  of  investi 
gation  in  the  most  distant  point. 
2  T  28* 


330  WIRT'SLIFEOF 

Of  the  first  argument,  a  manuscript  report  is  still  extant, 
taken  in  shorthand  by  Mr.  Robertson,  the  same  gentleman 
who  reported  the  debates  of  the  convention  of  Virginia  in 
1788.  The  second  argument  was  not  reported;  because, 
as  Mr.  Robertson  states,  he  was  informed  by  the  counsel, 
that  it  would  be  nothing  more  than  a  repetition  of  the  first ; 
and  he  adds,  that  he  was  afterward  told  it  was  much  inferior. 
What  must  we  conclude,  then,  as  to  the  powers  displayed  by 
Mr.  Henry  in  the  first  argument,  when,  in  the  course  of  the 
second  and  inferior  one,  he  extorted  from  Judge  Iredell,  as  he 
sat  on  the  bench,  the  exclamation  :  "  Gracious  God  ! — He  is 
an  orator  indeed  /" 

The  report  of  the  first  argument,  as  deciphered  by  Mr. 
Robertson,  from  his  stenographic  notes,  has  been  obligingly 
submitted  to  the  author  of  these  sketches,  and  he  has  ex 
tracted  from  it  an  imperfect  analysis  of  Mr.  Henry's  speech. 
The  report  may  unquestionably  be  relied  on,  so  far  as  it 
professes  to  state  the  principles  of  law,  and  the  substance 
of  the  arguments  urged  by  the  very  eminent  counsel  engaged 
in  the  cause ;  and  in  this  point  of  view,  it  is  to  be  la 
mented  that  so  valuable  a  work  should  still  exist  only  in  the 
form  of  a  manuscript.  But,  as  a  sample  of  Mr.  Henry's 
peculiar  and  inimitable  eloquence,  it  is  subject  to  all  the  ob 
jections  which  have  been  already  urged  to  the  printed  de 
bates  of  the  Virginia  convention.  This  manuscript  report 
bears  upon  its  face  the  most  conclusive  proof  of  its  inaccuracy 
in  those  passages  in  which  it  attempts  to  exhibit  either  the 
captivating  flights  of  Mr.  Henry's  fancy,  or  those  unexpected 
and  overwhelming  assaults  which  he  made  upon  the  hearts 
of  his  judges ;  for  in  all  such  passages,  (it  is  believed,  with 
out  an  exception,)  the  pen  has  been  drawn  through  the 
sentence,  as  originally  written,  in  such  a  manner,  however, 


PATRICK     HENRY.  331 

as  to  leave  the  words  still  legible  ;  while  the  same  thought, 
or  something  like  it,  has  been  interlined  in  other  words  ;  and 
even  the  interlineations  themselves  are  oftener  than  otherwise 
erased,  altered,  and  farther  interlined,  for  the  purpose  of 
seeking  to  amend  the  expression  :  so  that,  in  casting  one's 
eyes  over  the  manuscript  report  of  Mr.  Henry's  speech,  in 
order  to  single  out  the  most  brilliant  passages,  those  which 
are  the  most  blotted  and  blurred  by  erasures  and  interlinea 
tions  may  be  selected  at  once,  without  the  hazard  of  mistake. 
Hence,  it  is  obvious,  that  the  reporter  had  not  in  his  steno 
graphic  notes,  the  very  expression  of  the  speaker;  but 
some  hint  merely  of  the  thought,  which  he  was  afterward 
unable  to  fill  up  to  his  own  satisfaction.  If  farther  evidence 
on  this  subject  were  required,  it  is  found  in  this  circumstance : 
that,  on  reading  Mr.  Robertson's  imitations  of  the  splendid 
parts  of  Mr.  Henry's  speech  to  several  of  those  who  heard 
it  delivered,  there  has  not  been  one  who  has  not  turned  oft' 
from  the  recital  with  the  strongest  expressions  of  disappoint 
ment,  and  in  several  instances  corrected  by  memory  the 
language  of  the  reporter. 

This  explanation  is  equally  due  to  the  memory  of  Mr. 
Henry,  to  the  reader,  and  the  author ;  for  the  author  is  fully 
aware,  that  if  the  truth  of  the  general  character  which  lie 
has  attempted  to  give  of  Mr.  Henry's  eloquence  shall  be 
tested  by  those  imperfect  specimens  to  which,  for  want  of 
more  accurate  ones,  he  has  been  compelled  to  resort,  discredit 
will  be  thrown  upon  the  whole  work,  and  it  will  be  regarded 
rather  as  romance  than  history.  But  the  ingenuous  and 
candid  reader  will  look  beyond  those  poor  and  wretched  imi 
tations,  and  my  own  equally  poor  and  wretched  descriptions, 
to  that  proof  of  Mr.  Henry's  eloquence  which  is  furnished 
by  its  practical  effects.  Can  there  be  any  doubt  of  the  su- 


332  WIRT'S    LIFE     OF 

preme  eloquence  of  that  man  who  awakened  and  hushed 
at  his  pleasure,  "  the  stormy  wave  of  the  multitude  ?"  who, 
by  his  powers  of  speech,  roused  the  whole  American  people 
from  north  to  south?  put  the  revolution  into  motion,  and 
bore  it  upon  his  shoulders,  as  Atlas  is  said  to  do  the  heavens  ? 
to  whose  charms  of  persuasion,  not  the  rabble  merely,  but  all 
ranks  of  society,  have  borne  the  most  unanimous  evidence  ? 
who  moved  not  merely  the  populace,  the  rocks,  and  stones  of 
the  field,  but,  "by  the  summit  took  the  mountain-oak,  and 
made  him  stoop  to  the  plain  ?"  Instead,  then,  of  comparing 
our  descriptions  of  Mr.  Henry's  eloquence  with  the  speci 
mens  which  his  reporters  have  made  of  it,  let  the  reader  com 
pare  that  description  with  the  effects  which  it  actually 
wrought,  and  the  universal  testimony  which  is  borne  to  it,  by 
the  rapturous  admiration  of  every  one  who  ever  had  the  hap 
piness  to  hear  him ;  and  the  author,  so  far  from  being  afraid 
of  the  charge  of  exaggeration,  will  be  apprehensive  only  of 
that  of  presumption,  in  attempting  a  description  of  powers  so 
perfectly  undescribable. 

But  to  return  to  his  argument  in  the  case  of  the  British 
debts.  In  order  to  render  intelligible  the  analysis  which  we 
propose  to  give  to  the  reader,  it  will  be  necessary  to  prefix  to 
it  a  statement  of  the  case,  of  the  pleadings,  and  the  points 
made  in  argument,  by  the  opening  counsel. 

William  Jones,  a  British  subject,  as  surviving  partner  of 
the  mercantile  house  of  Farrell  and  Jones,  brought  an  action 
of  debt,  in  the  federal  circuit  court  at  Richmond,  against 
Doctor  Thomas  Walker,  of  the  county  of  Albemarle,  in  Vir 
ginia,  on  a  bond  which  bore  date  before  the  revolutionary 
war;  to  wit,  on  the  llth  of  May,  1772.  To  this  action  the 
defendant  pleaded  five  several  pleas  : — 


PATRICK    HENRY.  333 

1.  The  first  was,  the  plea  of  payment  generally,  on  which 
the  plaintiff  took  issue ;  but  it  .was  not  tried,  the  cause  having 
gone  off  on  the  demurrers   growing  out  of  the   subsequent 
pleadings. 

2.  In  his  second  plea,  the  defendant  relies  on  the  act  of 
sequestration,  passed  by  the  legislature  of  Virginia  during 
the  revolutionary  war,  to  wit,  on  the  20th  of  October,  1777; 
by  which  it  was  enacted,  that  "  it  should  be  lawful  for  any 
citizen  of  this  commonwealth,  owing  money  to  a  subject  of 
Great  Britain,  to  pay  the  same,  or  any  part  thereof,  from  time 
to  time,  as  he  should  think  fit,  into  the  loan  office  of  the 
state ;  taking  thereout  a  certificate  for  the  same  in  the  name 
of  the  creditor,  with  an  endorsement  under  the  hand  of  the 
commissioner  of  the  loan  office,  expressing  the  name  of  the 
payee,  delivering  such  certificate  to  the  governor  and  council, 
whose  receipt  should  discharge  him  from  so  much  of  the 
debt :" — and  the  defendant  exhibits  the  governor's  receipt  for 
2151Z.  185.  which  he  offers  in  bar  to  so  much  of  the  plain 
tiff's  demand. 

3.  In  his  third  plea,  he  sets  out  the  act  of  forfeiture,  passed 
by  the  assembly  on  the  third  of  May,  1779,  whereby  it  was, 
among  other  things,  enacted,  "  that  all  the  property,  real  and 
personal,  within  the  commonwealth,  belonging  at  that  time 
to  any  British  subject,  should  be  deemed  to  be  vested  in  the 
commonwealth;"  as  salso  the  act  of  the  6th  of  May,  1782, 
whereby  it  was  enacted,  "  that  no  demand  whatsoever,  ori 
ginally  due  to  a  subject  of  Great  Britain,  should  be  recover 
able  in  any  court  of  this  commonwealth,  although  the  same 
might  be  transferred  to  a  citizen  of  this  state,  or  to  any  other 
person  capable  of  maintaining  such  action,  unless  the  assign- 


334  WIRT'S    LIFE    OF 

ment  had  been  or  might  be  made  for  a  valuable  considera 
tion  bona  fide  paid  before  the  first  of  May,  1777:"  and  the 
plea  insists  that  the  debt,  in  the  declaration  mentioned,  was 
personal  property  of  a  British  subject,  forfeited  to  the  com 
monwealth  under  the  first-mentioned  act,  and  a  demand, 
whose  recovery  in  the  courts  of  the  commonwealth  was 
barred  by  the  last. 

4.  The  fourth  plea  takes  the  ground,  that  the  king  of 
Britain  and  his  subjects  were  still  alien  enemies,  and  that 
the  state  of  war  still  continued,  on  the  ground  of  the  several 
direct  violations  of  the  definitive  treaty  of  peace,  which  fol 
low: — 1.   In  continuing  to  carry  off  the  negroes  in  his  pos 
session,  the  property  of  American  citizens,  and  refusing  to 
deliver  them,  or  permit  the  owners  to  take  them,  according  to 
the  express  stipulations  of  that  treaty: — 2.   In  the  forcible 
retention  of  the  forts  Niagara  and  Detroit,  and  the  adjacent 
territory: — 3.    In  supplying  the  Indians,  who  were   at  war 
with  the  United  States,  with  arms  and  ammunition,  furnished 
within  the  territories  of  the  United  States,  to  wit,  at  the  forts 
Detroit  and  Niagara,  and  at  other  forts  and  stations  forcibly 
held  by  the  troops  and  armies  of  the  king,  within  the  United 
States ;  and  in  purchasing  from  the  Indians,  within  the  ter 
ritories  aforesaid,  the  plunder  taken  by  them  in  war  from  the 
United  States,  and  the  persons  of  American  citizens  made 
prisoners ;  which  several  infractions,  the  plea  contends,  had 
abolished  the  treaty  of  peace,  and  placed  Great  Britain  and 
the  United  States  in  a  state  of  war;  and  that  hence,  the 
plaintiff,  being  an  alien  enemy,  had  no  right  to  sue  in  the 
courts  of  the  United  States. 

5.  The  fifth  plea  sets  forth,  that  at  the  time  of  contracting 


PATRICK     HENRY.  335 

the  debt  in  the  declaration  mentioned,  the  plaintiff  and  the 
defendant  were  fellow-subjects  of  the  same  king  and  govern 
ment  ;  that  on  the  fourth  of  July,  1776,  the  government  of 
the  British  monarch  in  this  country  was  dissolved,  and  the 
coallegiance  of  the  parties  severed;  whereby  the  plea 
contends,  that  the  debt  in  the  declaration  mentioned  was 
annulled. 

To  the  second  plea  the  plaintiff  replied,  insisting  on  the 
treaty  of  peace  of  1783,  whereby  it  was  stipulated,  that  cred 
itors  on  either  side  should  meet  with  no  lawful  impediment 
to  the  recovery  of  the  full  value,  in  sterling  money,  of  all 
bonajide  debts  theretofore  contracted;  and  also  on  the  con 
stitution  of  the  United  States  of  1787,  by  which  it  had  been 
expressly  declared,  that  treaties  which  were  then  made,  or 
which  should  thereafter  be  made,  under  the  authority  of 
the  United  States,  should  be  the  supreme  law  of  the  land, 
any  thing  in  the  constitution,  or  the  laws  of  any  state,  to  the 
contrary  notwithstanding. 

The  defendant  rejoined,  that  the  treaty  had  been  annulled 
by  the  infractions  of  it  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain,  and  so 
could  not  aid  the  cause  of  the  plaintiff;  and  farther,  that  the 
debt  in  the  declaration  mentioned  was  not  bonajide  due,  and 
owing  to  the  plaintiff  at  the  date  of  the  treaty,  insomuch 
as  the  same  (or  at  least  2151/.  185.  of  it)  had  been  dis 
charged  by  the  payment  set  forth  in  the  second  plea ;  and 
hence,  that  it  was  not  a  subsisting  debt,  within  the  terms  and 
provisions  of  the  treaty. 

To  this  rejoinder,  as  also  to  the  third,  fourth,  and  fifth 
pleas  of  the  defendant,  the  plaintiff  demurred  ;  and  the  cause 
came  on  to  be  argued,  on  these  demurrers,  at  Richmond,  on 
the  24th  of  November,  1791. 

The  Virginian  reader  will  readily  estimate  the  splendour 


336  WIRT'S    LIFE    OF 

and  power  of  the  discussion  in  this  case,  when  he  learns  the 
names  of  the  counsel  engaged  in  it ;  on  the  part  of  the  plain 
tiff,  then,  were  Mr.  Ronald,  Mr.  Baker,  Mr.  Wickham,  and 
Mr.  Starke ;  and  on  that  of  the  defendant,  Mr.  Henry,  Mr. 
Marshall,  (the  present  chief  justice  of  the  United  States,)  Mr. 
Alexander  Campbell,  and  Mr.  Innis,  the  attorney-general  of 
Virginia :  I  mention  their  names  in  the  order  in  which  they 
spoke  on  their  respective  sides. 

The  cause  was  opened  with  great  fairness  and  ability,  by 
Mr.  Ronald  and  Mr.  Baker,  in  succession ;  they  were  an 
swered  by  all  the  counsel  of  the  defendant ;  and  Mr.  Wick- 
ham,  Mr.  Starke,  and  Mr.  Baker,  were  heard  in  the  reply. 

The  opening  counsel  made  the  following  points  : — 
First,  That  debts  were  not  a  subject  of  confiscation  in  war. 

Secondly,  That  if  they  were,  Virginia,  at  the  time  of  pas 
sing  the  acts  relied  on  by  the  defendant,  was  not  a  sovereign 
and  independent  state,  Great  Britain  not  having  at  that  time 
assented  to  her  independence ;  and  hence,  that  she  had  not 
the  power  of  legislating  away  the  debts  of  fellow-subjects 
not  represented  in  her  legislative  councils — which  councils, 
were  themselves  a  usurpation  in  the  eye  of  the  law. 

Thirdly,  That  if  debts  were  subject  to  confiscation,  and 
Virginia  were  competent  to  pass  laws  to  that  effect,  she  had 
not  done  so ;  and  Mr.  Baker  particularly  entered  into  a 
minute  and  ingenious  scrutiny  of  the  language  of  the  several 
acts  of  assembly,  to  prove  that,  so  far  from  having  been  for 
feited,  the  debts  were  recognised  as  existing  British  debts 
Hown  to  the  year  1782. 


PATRICK     HENRY.  337 

Fourthly,  That  if  all  these  points  were  against  the  plaintiff, 
the  right  of  recovering  those  debts  was  restored  by  the  treaty 
of  1783,  and  the  constitution  of  the  United  States,  which  re 
cognised  that  treaty  as  the  supreme  law  of  the  land ;  and, 

Fifthly,  That  the  alleged  infractions  of  the  treaty  on  the 
part  of  Great  Britain  did  not  produce  the  effect  of  abolishing 
the  treaty ;  that  this  was  a  national  concern,  with  which  the 
individual  plaintiff  and  defendant  had  nothing  to  do ;  that  the 
question  of  infraction  was  one  to  be  decided  by  the  supreme 
power  of  the  nation  only,  and  one  of  which  the  court  could 
not,  with  any  propriety,  take  cognizance. 

Mr.  Baker  closed  his  opening  speech  on  Thursday  evening, 
the  24th  of  November,  and  it  was  publicly  understood  that 
Mr.  Henry  was  to  commence  his  reply  on  the  next  day. 
The  legislature  was  then  in  session;  but  when  11  o'clock, 
the  hour  for  the  meeting  of  the  court,  arrived,  the  speaker 
found  himself  without  a  house  to  do  business.  All  his  au 
thority  and  that  of  his  sergeant-at-arms  were  unavailing  to 
keep  the  members  in  their  seats ;  every  consideration  of  pub 
lic  duty  yielded  to  the  anxiety  which  they  felt,  in  common 
\vith  the  rest  of  their  fellow-citizens,  to  hear  this  great  man 
on  this  truly  great  and  extensively-interesting  question.  Ac 
cordingly,  when  the  court  was  ready  to  proceed  to  business, 
the  court-room  of  the  capitol,  large  as  it  is,  was  insufficient 
to  contain  the  vast  concourse  that  was  pressing  to  enter  it. 
The  portico,  and  the  area  in  which  the  statue  of  Washing 
ton  stands,  were  filled  with  a  disappointed  crowd,  who,  never 
theless,  maintained  their  stand  without.  In  the  court-room 
itself,  the  judges  through  condescension  to  the  public  anxiety, 
relaxed  the  rigour  of  respecl  which  they  were  in  the  habit 
2U  29 


338  WIRTSLTFEOF 

of  exacting,  and  permitted  the  vacant  seats  of  the  bench, 
and  even  the  windows  behind  it,  to  be  occupied  by  the  im 
patient  multitude.  The  noise  and  tumult,  occasioned  by 
seeking  a  more  favourable  station,  were  at  length  hushed,  and 
the  profound  silence  which  reigned  within  the  room  gave 
notice  to  those  without,  that  the  orator  had  risen,  or  was  on 
the  point  of  rising.  Every  eye  in  front  of  the  bar  was  rivet 
ed  upon  him  with  the  most  eager  attention ;  and  so  still  and 
deep  was  the  silence,  that  every  one  might  hear  the  throbbing 
of  his  own  heart.  Mr.  Henry,  however,  appeared  wholly 
unconscious  that  all  this  preparation  was  on  his  account,  and 
rose  with  as  much  simplicity  and  composure,  as  if  the  occa 
sion  had  been  one  of  ordinary  occurrence.  Nothing  can  be 
more  plain,  modest,  and  unaffected,  than  his  exordium : — 
"  1  stand  here,  may  it  please  your  honours,  to  support,  ac 
cording  to  my  power,  that  side  of  the  question  which  re 
spects  the  American  debtor.  I  beg  leave  to  beseech  the  pa 
tience  of  this  honourable  court ;  because  the  subject  is  very 
great  and  important,  and  because  I  have  not  only  the  great 
ness  of  the  subject  to  consider,  but  those  numerous  observa 
tions  which  have  come  from  the  opposing  counsel  to  answer. 
Thus,  therefore,  the  matter  proper  for  my  discussion  is  una 
voidably  accumulated.  Sir,  there  is  a  circumstance  in  this 
case,  that  is  more  to  be  deplored  than  that  which  I  have  just 
mentioned,  and  that  is  this :  those  animosities  which  the 
injustice  of  the  British  nation  hath  produced,  and  which  I 
had  well  hoped  would  never  again  be  the  subject  of  discus 
sion,  are  necessarily  brought  forth.  The  conduct  of  that 
nation,  which  bore  so  hard  upon  us  in  the  late  contest,  be 
comes  once  more  the  subject  of  investigation.  I  know,  sir, 
how  well  it  becomes  a  liberal  man  and  a  Christian  to  forget 
and  to  forgive.  As  individuals  professing  a  holy  reRgion,  it 


PATRICK    HENRY.  339 

is  our  bounden  duty  to  forgive  injuries  done  us  as  individuals. 
But  when  to  the  character  of  Christian  you  add  the  charac 
ter  of  patriot,  you  are  in  a  different  situation.  Our  mild  and 
holy  system  of  religion  inculcates  an  admirable  maxim  of 
forbearance.  If  your  enemy  smite  one  cheek,  turn  the 
other  to  him.  But  you  must  stop  there.  You  cannot  apply 
this  to  your  country.  As  members  of  a  social  community, 
this  maxim  does  not  apply  to  you.  When  you  consider  in 
juries  done  to  your  country,  your  political  duty  tells  you  of 
vengeance.  Forgive  as  a  private  man,  but  never  forgive  pub 
lic  injuries.  Observations  of  this  nature  are  exceedingly  un 
pleasant,  but  it  is  my  duty  to  use  them." 

With  the  same  primeval  simplicity,  he  enters  upon  the  ar 
gument  ;  not  making  a  formal  division  of  the  whole  subject, 
but  merely  announcing  the  single  proposition  which  he  was 
about  to  maintain  for  the  time ;  thus,  immediately  after  the 
exordium  which  has  been  quoted  he  proceeds  thus  : — 

"  The  first  point  which  I  shall  endeavour  to  establish  will 
be,  that  debts  in  common  wars  become  subject  to  forfeiture ; 
and  if  forfeited  in  common  wars,  much  more  must  they  be 
so  in  a  revolution  Avar,  as  the  late  contest  was.  In  con 
sidering  this  subject,  it  will  be  necessary  to  define  what  a 
debt  is.  I  mean  by  it  an  engagement,  or  promise,  by  one 
man  to  pay  another,  for  a  valuable  consideration,  an  ade 
quate  price.  By  a  contract  thus  made,  for  a  valuable  con 
sideration,  there  arises  what,  in  the  law  phrase,  is  called  a 
lien  on  the  body  and  goods  of  the  promissor  or  debtor. 
This  interest,  which  the  creditor  becomes  entitled  to,  in  the 
goods  and  body  of  his  debtor,  is  such  as  may  be  taken  from 
the  creditor,  if  he  be  found  the  subject  of  a  hostile  country. 


340  WIRT'SLIFEOF 

This  position  is  supported  by  the  following  authorities. '  He 
then  cites  and  reads  copious  extracts  from  Grotius  and  Vat- 
tel,  which  see*m  to  support  his  position  decisively — and  then 
proceeds  thus  : — "  This  authority  decides  in  the  most  clear 
and  satisfactory  manner,  that,  as  a  nation,  we  had  powers 
as  extensive  and  unlimited  as  any  nation  on  earth.  This 
great  writer,  after  stating  the  equality  and  independence  of 
nations,  and  who  are,  and  who  are  not  enemies,  does  away 
the  distinction  between  corporeal  and  incorporeal  rights,  and 
declares  that  war  gives  the  same  right  over  the  debts,  as  over 
the  other  goods  of  an  enemy.  He  illustrates  his  doctrine  by 
the  instance  of  Alexander's  remitting  to  the  Thessalians, 
a  debt  due  by  them  to  the  Theban  commonwealth :  this 
is  a  case  in  point — for  supposing  the  subjects  of  Alexander 
had  been  indebted  to  the  Thebans,  might  he  not  have  re 
mitted  the  debts  due  by  them  to  that  people,  as  well  as  the 
debts  due  them  by  his  allies,  the  Thessalians  ?  Let  me  not 
be  told  that  he  was  entitled  to  the  goods  of  the  Thebans,  be 
cause  he  had  conquered  them.  If  he  could  remit  a  debt  due 
by  those  whose  claim  of  friendship  was  so  inferior,  those 
who  were  only  attached  to  him  by  the  feeble  ties  of  contin 
gent  and  temporary  alliance — if  his  Macedonians,  his  imme 
diate  and  natural  subjects,  were  indebted  to  the  Thebans, 
could  he  not  have  remitted  their  debts  ?  This  author  states, 
in  clear,  unequivocal  terms,  by  fair  inference  and  unavoida 
ble  deduction,  that  when  two  nations  are  at  war,  either  na 
tion  has  a  right,  according  to  the  laws  of  nature  and  nations, 
to  remit  to  its  own  citizens  debts  which  they  may  owe  to 
the  enemy.  If  this  point  wanted  further  elucidation,  it  is 
pointedly  proved  by  the  authority  which  I  first  quoted  from 
Grotius,  that  it  is  an  inseparable  concomitant  of  sovereign 
power,  that  debts  and  contracts  similar  to  those  which  ex- 


PATRICK     HENRY.  341 

£Sted  in  America,  at  the  time  the  war  with  Great  Britain 
broke  out,  may,  in  virtue  of  the  eminent  domain,  or  right,  be 
cancelled  and  destroyed.  '  A  king  has  a  greater  right  in 
the  goods  of  his  subjects,  for  the  public  advantage,  than 
the  proprietors  themselves.  And  when  the  exigency  of  the 
state  requires  a  supply,  every  man  is  more  obliged  to 
contribute  toward  it,  than  to  satisfy  his  creditors.  The 
sovereign  may  discharge  a  debtor  from  the  obligation  of 
paying,  either  for  a  certain  time,  or  for  ever.'  What  lan 
guage  can  be  more  expressive  than  this  ?  Can  the  mind  of 
man  conceive  any  thing  more  comprehensive  ?  Rights  are 
of  two  sorts,  private  and  inferior,  or  eminent  and  superior, 
such  as  the  community  hold  over  the  persons  and  estates  of 
its  members  for  the  common  benefit.  The  latter  is  para 
mount  to  the  former.  A  king  or  chief  of  a  nation  has  a 
greater  right  than  the  owner  himself  over  any  property  in 
the  nation.  The  individual  who  owns  private  property  can 
not  dispose  of  it,  contrary  to  the  will  of  his  sovereign,  to  in 
jure  the  public.  This  author  is  known  to  be  no  advocate  for 
tyranny,  yet  he  mentions  that  a  king  has  a  superior  power 
over  the  property  in  his  nation,  and  that  by  virtue  thereof,  he 
may  discharge  his  subjects  for  ever  from  debts  which  they 
owe  to  an  enemy. 

'  The  instance  which  our  author  derives  from  the  Roman 
history,  affords  a  striking  instance  of  the  length  to  which 
the  necessities  and  exigencies  of  a  nation  will  warrant  it  to 
go.  It  was  a  juncture  critical  to  the  Roman  affairs.  But 
their  situation  was  not  more  critical  or  dangerous  than  ours 
at  the  time  these  debts  were  confiscated.  It  was  after  the 
total  defeat  and  dreadful  slaughter  at  Cannae,  when  the  state 
was  in  the  most  imminent  danger.  Our  situation  in  the 
late  war  was  equally  perilous.  Every  consideration  must 
2U  29* 


342  W  IRT'S    LIFE    OF 

give  way  to  the  public  safety.  That  admirable  Roman 
maxim,  solus  populi  suprema  lex,  governed  that  people  in 
every  emergency.  Et  is  a  maxim  that  ought  to  govern  every 
community.  It  was  not  peculiar  to  the  Roman  people.  The 
impression  came  from  the  same  source  from  which  we  derive 
our  existence.  Self-preservation,  that  great  dictate  implanted 
in  us  by  nature,  must  regulate  our  conduct ;  we  must  have 
a  power  to  act  according  to  our  necessities,  and  it  remains  for 
human  judgment  to  decide  what  are  the  proper  occasions 
for  the  exercise  of  this  power.  Call  to  your  recollection  our 
situation  during  the  late  arduous  contest.  Was  it  not  neces 
sary  in  our  day  of  trial,  to  go  to  the  last  iota  of  human 
right  ?  The  Romans  fought  for  their  altars  and  household 
gods.  By  these  terms  they  meant  every  thing  dear  and 
valuable  to  men.  Was  not  our  stake  as  important  as  theirs? 
But  many  other  nations  engage  in  the  most  bloody  wars  for 
the  most  trivial  and  frivolous  causes.  If  other  nations  who 
carried  on  wars  for  a  mere  point  of  honour,  or  a  punctilio  of 
gallantry,  were  warranted  in  the  exercise  of  this  power, 
were  not  we,  who  fought  for  every  thing  most  inestimable 
and  valuable  to  mankind,  justified  in  using  it  ?  Our  finances 
were  in  a  more  distressing  situation  than  theirs  at  this  awful 
period  of  our  existence.  Our  war  was  in  opposition  to  the 
most  grievous  oppression — w,e  resisted,  and  our  resistance 
was  approved  and  blessed  by  Heaven.  The  most  illustrious 
men  who  have  considered  human  affairs,  when  they  have 
revolved  human  rights,  and  considered  how  far  a  nation  is 
warranted  to  act  in  cases  of  emergency,  declare  that  the  only 
ingredient  essential  to  the  rectitude  and  validity  of  its 
measures  is,  that  they  be  for  the  public  good.  I  need  hardly 
observe  that  the  confiscation  of  these  debts  was  for  the  public 
good.  Those  who  decided  it  were  constitutionally  enabled 


PATRICK     HENRY.  343 

to  determine  it.  Grotius  shows  that  you  have  not  only 
power  over  the  goods  of  your  enemies,  but  according  to  the 
exigency  of  affairs,  you  may  seize  the  property  of  your  citi 
zens."  After  reading  the  apposite  passage  from  Grotius,  he 
says  : — "  I  read  these  authorities  to  prove,  that  the  property 
of  an  enemy  is  liable  to  forfeiture,  and  that  debts  are  as  much 
the  subject  of  hostile  contest  as  tangible  property.  And 
Vattel,  p.  484,  as  before  mentioned,  pointedly  enumerates 
rights  and  debts  among  such  property  of  the  enemy  as  is 
liable  to  confiscation.  To  this  last  author  I  must  frequently 
resort  in  the  course  of  my  argument.  I  put  great  confidence 
in  him,  from  the  weight  of  his  authority — for  he  is  univer 
sally  respected  by  all  the  wise  and  enlightened  of  mankind, 
being  no  less  celebrated  for  his  great  judgment  and  know 
ledge,  than  for  his  universal  philanthropy.  One  of  his  first 
principles  01  the  law  of  nations  is,  a  perfect  equality  of  rights 
among  nations ;  that  each  nation  ought  to  be  left  in  the 
peaceable  enjoyment  of  that  liberty  it  has  derived  from  na 
ture.  I  refer  your  honours  to  his  preliminary  discourse  from 
6th  to  the  1 2th  page  ;  and  as  it  will  greatly  elucidate  the  sub 
ject,  and  tend  to  prove  the  position  I  have  attempted  to  support, 
I  will  read  sections  17,18, 19,  and  20,  of  this  discourse."  Having 
read  these  sections,  he  touches  transiently,  but  powerfully, 
the  objection  to  the  want  of  jiational  independence  to  pass 
the  laws  of  forfeiture,  till  that  independence  was  assented  to 
by  the  king  of  Great  Britain.  "  When  the  war  commenced," 
said  he,  "  these  things,  called  British  debts,  lost  their  quality 
of  external  obligation,  and  became  matters  of  internal  obliga 
tion,  because  the  creditors  had  no  "right  of  constraint  over  the 
debtors.  They  were  before  the  war,  matters  of  perfect  ex 
ternal  obligation,  accompanied  by  a  right  of  constraint;  but 
the  war  having  taken  away  this  right  of  constraint  over  the 


344  WIRT'S     LIFE    OF 

debtors,  they  were  changed  into  an  internal  obligatior ,  bind 
ing  the  conscience  only.  For  it  will  not  surely  be  denied, 
that  the  creditor  lost  the  right  of  constraint  over  his  debtor. 

"  From  the  authority  of  this  respectable  author,  therefore — 
from  the  clearest  principles  of  the  laws  of  nature  and  nations, 
these  debts  became  subject  to  forfeiture  or  remission.  Those 
authors  state,  in  language  as  emphatic  and  nervous  as  the 
human  mind  can  conceive,  or  the  human  tongue  can  utter, 
that  independent  nations  have  the  power  of  confiscating  the 
property  of  their  enemies ;  and  so  had  this  gallant  nation. 
America,  being  a  sovereign  and  complete  nation,  in  all  its 
forms  and  departments,  possessed  all  the  rights  of  the  most 
powerful  and  ancient  nations.  Respecting  the  power  of 
legislation,  it  was  a  nation  complete,  and  without  human  con 
trol.  Respecting  public  justice,  it  was  a  nation  blessed  by 
Heaven,  with  the  experience  of  past  times ;  not  like  those 
nations,  whose  crude  systems  of  jurisprudence  originated  in 
the  ages  of  barbarity  and  ignorance  of  human  rights.  Amer 
ica  was  a  sovereign  nation,  when  her  sons  stepped  forth  to 
resist  the  unjust  hand  of  oppression,  and  declared  themselves 
independent.  The  consent  of  Great  Britain  was  not  neces 
sary  (as  the  gentlemen  on  the  other  side  urge)  to  create  us  a 
nation.  Yes,  sir,  we  were  a  nation,  long  before  the  mon 
arch  of  that  little  island  in  the  Atlantic  ocean  gave  his  puny 
assent  to  it." — These  words  he  accompanied  by  a  most  sig 
nificant  gesture — rising  on  tiptoe — pointing  as  to  a  vast  dis 
tance,  and  half-closing  his  eyelids,  as  if  endeavouring  with 
extreme  difficulty,  to  draw  a  sight  on  some  object  almost  too 
small  for  vision — and  blowing  out  the  words  puny  assent, 
with  lips  curled  with  unutterable  contempt. — "America  was, 
long  before  that  time,  a  great  and  gallant  nation.  In  the 
estimation  of  other  nations  we  were  so  :  the  beneficent  hand 


PATRICK     HENRY.  345 

of  Heaven  enabled  her  to  triumph,  and  secured  to  her  the 
most  sacred  rights  mortals  can  enjoy.  When  these  illus 
trious  authors,  these  friends  to  human  nature,  these  kind  in 
structors  of  human  errors  and  frailties,*  contemplate  the  obli 
gations  and  corresponding  rights  of  nations,  and  define  the 
internal  right,  which  is  without  constraint  and  not  binding, 
do  they  not  understand  such  rights  as  these,  which  the  Brit 
ish  creditors  now  claim  ?  Here  this  man  tells  us  what  con 
science  says  ought  to  be  done,  and  what  is  compulsory. 
These  British  debts  must  come  within  the  grasp  of  human 
power,  like  all  other  human  things.  They  ceased  to  have 
that  external  quality,  and  fell  into  that  mass  of  power  which 
belonged  to  our  legislature  by  the  law  of  nations." 

He  comes  now  to  a  very  serious  obstacle,  which  it  required 
both  address  and  vigour  to  remove.  Vattel,  whom  he  had 
cited  to  support  his  position  of  the  forfeitable  character  of 
debts,  and  who,  so  far  as  Mr.  Henry  had  read  him,  does  sup 
port  him  explicitly,  annexes  a  qualification  to  the  principle, 
which  had  been  pressed  with  great  power  by  the  gentlemen 
who  opened  the  cause.  The  curiosity  of  the  reader  will  be 
gratified  by  seeing  the  manner  in  which  he  surmounted  the 
objection.  "  But  we  are  told,  that  admitting  this  to  be  true 
in  the  fullest  latitude,  yet  the  customary  law  of  Europe  is 
against  the  exercise  of  this  power  of  confiscation  of  debts ; 
in  support  of  which  position,  they  rely  on  what  is  added  by 
Vattel,  p.  484.  Let  us  examine  what  he  says : — '  The 
sovereign  has  naturally  the  same  right  over  what  his  subjects 
may  be  indebted  to  enemies :  therefore,  he  may  confiscate 

*In  the  second  argument,  he  eulogized  the  writers  on  the  laws  ol 
nations,  as  "benevolent  spirit  >,  who  held  up  the  torch  of  science  to  a 
benighted  world."  «-> 

2X 


346  WIRT'S    LIFE     OF 

debts  of  this  nature,  if  the  term  of  payment  happen  in  the 
time  of  war,  or  at  least  he  may  prohibit  his  subjects  from 
paying  while  the  war  lasts.  But  at  present,  in  regard  to 
the  advantage  and  safety  of  commerce,  all  the  sovereigns 
of  Europe  have  departed  from  this  rigour.  And  as  this 
custom  has  generally  been  received,  he  who  should  act 
contrary  to*  it,  would  injure  the  public  faith ;  for  stran 
gers  trusted  his  subjects  only,  from  a  firm  persuasion, 
that  the  general  custom  would  be  observed.'  Excellent 
man  !  and  excellent  sentiments !  The  principle  cannot  be 
denied  to  be  good :  but  when  you  apply  it  to  the  case  be 
fore  the  court,  does  it  warrant  their  conclusions  ?  The  au 
thor  says,  that  although  a  nation  has  a  right  to  confiscate 
debts  due  by  its  people  to  an  enemy,  yet,  at  present  the  cus 
tom  of  Europe  is  contrary.  It  is  not  enough  for  this  author 
to  tell  us  that  this  custom  is  contrary  to  the  right.  He 
admits  the  right.  Let  us  see  whether  this  custom  has  ex 
istence  here.  Vattel,  having  spoken  of  the  necessary  law  of 
nations,  which  is  immutable,  and  the  obligations  whereof 
are  indispensable,  proceeds  to  distinguish  the  several  other 
kinds  of  natur  \\  law  in  the  same  preliminary  discourse,  pp.  1 1 
and  12,  thus  : — 

'  Certain  maxims  and  customs  consecrated  by  long  use, 
and  observed  by  nations,  between  each  other,  as  a  kind  of 
law,  form  this  customary  law  of  nations,  or  the  custo  n  of 
nations.  This  law  is  founded  on  a  tacit  consent,  or,  if  you 
will,  on  a  tacit  convention  of  the  nations  that  observe  ity 
with  respect  to  each  other.  Whence,  it  appears,  that  it  is 
only  binding  to  those  nations  that  have  adopted  it,  and 
that  is  not  universal,  any  more  than  conventional  laws.  It 
must  be  here  also  observed  of  this  customary  law,  that  the 


PATRICK    HENRY.  347 

particulars  relating  to  it  do  not  belong  to  a  systematic  treatise 
on  the  law  of  nations,  but  that  we  ought  to  confine  ourselves 
to  he  giving  a  general  theory  of  it,  that  is,  to  the  rules  which 
here  ought  to  be  observed,  as  well  with  respect  to  its  effects, 
as  in  relation  to  the  matter  itself:  and  in  this  last  respect, 
these  rules  will  serve  to  distinguish  the  lawful  and  innocent 
customs,  from  those  that  are  unjust  and  illegal ! 

"  '  When  a  custom  is  generally  established,  either  between 
all  the  polite  nations  in  the  world,  or  only  between  those  of 
a  certain  continent,  as  of  Europe  for  example ;  or  those 
who  have  a  more  frequent  correspondence  ;  if  that  custom  is 
in  its  own  nature  indifferent,  and  much  more,  if  it  be  a 
wise  and  useful  one,  it  ought  to  be  obligatory  on  all  those 
nations  who  are  considered  as  having  given  their  consent 
to  it.  And  they  are  bound  to  observe  it,  with  respect  to 
each  other,  while  they  have  not  expressly  declared  that  they 
will  not  adhere  to  it.  But  if  that  custom  contains  any  thing 
unjust  or  illegal,  it  is  of  no  force ;  and  every  nation  is  under 
an  obligation  to  abandon  it,  nothing  being  able  to  oblige  or 
permit  a  nation  to  violate  a  natural  law. 

"  *  These  three  kinds  of  the  law  of  nations,  voluntary,  con 
ventional,  and  customary,  together,  compose  the  positive 
law  of  nations.  For  they  all  proceed  from  the  volition  of 
nations ;  the  voluntary  law,  from  their  presumed  consent : 
the  conventional  law,  from  an  express  consent ;  and  the 
customary  law,  from  a  tacit  consent :  and  as  there  can  be 
no  other  manner  of  deducing  any  law  from  the  will  of  na 
tions,  there  are  only  these  three  kinds  of  the  positive  law  of 
nations? 

"  This  excellent  author,  after  having  stated  tne  voluntary 
law  of  nations  to  be  the  result  of  the  equality  of  nations,  and 
the  conventior  al  law  to  be  particular  compacts  or  treaties, 


348  WIRT'S     LIFE     OF 

binding  only  on  the  contracting  parties,  declares,  that  the 
customary  law  of  nations  is  only  binding  to  those  nations 
that  have  adopted  it ;  that  it  is  a  particular  and  not  a 
universal  law  ;  that  it  applies  only  to  distinct  nations.  The 
case  of  Alexander  and  the  Thebans  is  founded  on  the  general 
law  of  nations,  applicable  to  nations  at  war.  It  is  enough 
for  me  then,  to  show  that  America,  being  at  war,  was  entitled 
to  the  privilege  of  national  law.  But,  says  Vattel,  the  present 
state  of  European  refinement  controls  the  general  law  (of 
which  he  had  been  before  speaking).  We  know  that  the 
customary  law  of  nations  can  only  bind  those  who  are  par 
ties  to  the  custom.  In  the  year  1776,  when  America  an 
nounced  her  will  to  be  free,  or  in  the  year  1777,  when  the 
law  concerning  British  debts  passed,  was  there  a  customary 
law  of  America  to  this  effect  ?  Or  were  the  customary  laws 
of  Europe  binding  on  America  ?  Were  we  a  party  to 
any  such  customary  law  ?  Was  there  any  thing  in  our 
constitution  or  laws  which  tied  up  our  hands  ?  No,  sir.  To 
make  this  customary  law  obligatory,  the  assent  of  all  the 
parties  to  be  bound  by  it  is  necessary.  There  must  be  an 
interchange  of  it.  It  is  not  for  one  nation  or  community 
to  say  to  another,  you  are  bound  by  this  law,  because  our 
kingdom  approves  of  it.  It  must  not  only  be  reciprocal  in 
its  advantages  and  principles,  but  it  must  have  been  recipro 
cal  in  its  exercise.  Virginia  could  not,  therefore,  be  bound 
by  it.  Let  us  see  whether  it  could  be  a  hard  case  on  the 
British  creditors,  that  this  customary  law  of  nations  did  not 
apply  in  their  favour.  Were  these  debts  contracted  from  a 
persuasion  of  its  observance  ?  Did  the  creditors  trust  to 
this  customary  law  of  nations  ?  No,  sir.  They  trusted 
to  what  they  thought  as  firm,  the  statute  and  common  laic 
of  England.  Victorious  and  successful  as  their  nation  had 


PATRICK     HENRY.  349 

lately  been,  when  they,  in  their  pride  and  inconsiderate  self- 
confidence,  stretched  out  the  hand  of  oppression,  their  sub 
jects  placed  no  reliance  on  the  customs  of  particular  na 
tions.  They  put  confidence  in  those  barrieis  of  right,  which 
were  derived  from  their  own  nation.  Their  reliance  was, 
that  the  tribunals  established  in  this  country,  under  the 
same  royal  authority  as  in  England,  would  do  them  justice. 
If  we  were  not  willing,  they  possessed  the  power  of  compel 
ling  us  to  do  them  justice.  The  debts  having,  therefore,  not 
been  contracted  from  any  reliance  on  the  customary  law 
of  nations,  were  they  contracted  from  a  regard  '  to  the 
rights  of  commerce  T  From  a  view  of  promoting  the 
commerce  of  those  little  things  catted  colonies  ?  This  re 
gard  could  not  have  been  the  ground  they  were  contracted 
on,  for  their  conduct  evinced  that  they  wished  to  take  the 
right  of  commerce  from  us.  What  other  ingredient  re 
mains  to  show  the  operation  of  this  custom  in  their  favour  ? 
The  book  speaks  of  strangers  trusting  subjects  of  a  different 
nation,  from  a  reliance  on  the  observance  of  the  customary 
law.  The  fact  here  was,  that  fellow-subjects  trusted  us,  on 
the  footing  just  stated  ;  trusting  to  the  existing  compulsory 
process  of  law,  not  relying  on  a  passive  inert  custom.  A 
fearful,  plodding,  sagacious  trader,  would  not  rely  on  so 
flimsy,  so  uncertain  a  dependance.  Something  similar  to 
what  he  thought  positive  satisfaction,  he  relied  on.  Were 
we  not  subject  to  the  same  king  ?  The  cases  are  then  at 
variance.  He  states  the  custom  to  exist  for  the  advantage 
of  commerce,  and  that  a  departure  from  it  would  injure  the 
public  faith.  Public  faith  is  in  this  case  out  of  the  question. 
The  public  faith  was  not  pledged — it  could  not  therefore  be 
injured.  I  have  already  read  to  your  honours  from  the  llth 
page  of  the  preliminary  discourse  of  Vattel,  '  that  the  cus- 

30 


WIRT'S   LIFE    OF 


to/nary  law  of  nations  is  only  binding  on  those  who  have 
adopted  it,  and  that  it  is  not  universal,  any  more  than 
conventional  laivs.'  It  is  evident  we  could  not  be  bound 
by  any  convention  or  treaty  to  which  we  ourselves  were  not 
a  party :  and  from  this  authority  it  is  equally  obvious,  that 
we  could  not  be  bound  by  any  customary  law  to  which  we 
were  not  parties. 

"  I  think,  therefore,  with  great  submission  to  the  court,  that 
the  right  for  which  I  contended,  that  is,  that  in  common 
wars  between  independent  nations,  either  of  the  contending 
parties  has  a  right  to  confiscate  or  remit  debts  due  by  its 
people  to  the  enemy,  is  not  shaken  by  the  customary  law  of 
nations,  as  far  as  it  regards  us,  because  the  custom  could  not 
affect  us.  But  gentlemen  say  we  were  not  completely  inde 
pendent  till  the  year  1 783 !  To  take  them  on  their  own 
ground,  their  arguments  will  fail  them.  There  is  a  custom 
ary  law  which  will  operate  pretty  strongly  on  our  side  of 
the  question.  What  were  the  inducements  of  the  debtor  ? 
On  what  did  the  American  debtor  rely  ?  Sir,  he  relied  for 
protection  on  that  system  of  common  and  statute  law  on 
which  the  creditors  depended.  Was  he  deceived  in  that  re 
liance  ?  That  he  was  most  miserably  deceived,  I  believe  will 
not  admit  of  a  doubt.  The  customary  law  of  nations  will 
only  apply  to  distinct  nations,  mutually  consenting  thereto. 
When  tyranny  attempted  to  rivet  her  chains  upon  us,  and 
we  boldly  broke  them  asunder,  we  were  remitted  to  that 
amplitude  of  freedom  which  the  beneficent  hand  of  Nature 
gave  us.  We  were  not  bound  by  fetters  which  are  of  benefit 
to  one  party,  while  they  are  destructive  to  the  other.  Would 
it  be  proper  that  we  should  be  bound,  and  they  unrestrained  ?n 
As  a  still  farther  answer  to  the  objection,  and  as  giving  the 
only  rule  of  restraint  in  operating  on  the  property  of  a  belli- 


PATRICK     HLNRY.  351 

gerant,  he  cites  the  following  principle  from  Vattel,  and  ap 
plies  it  to  the  actual  state  of  America :  "  Vattel,  book  the  3d, 
di.  8,  sect.  137,  says,  that  '  the  lawful  end  gives  a  true  right 
only  to  those  means  which  are  necessary  for  obtaining 
such  end.  Whatever  exceeds  this,  is  censured  by  the  taws 
of  nature  as  faulty,  and  will  be  condemned  at  the  tribunal 
of  conscience.  Hence  it  is,  that  the  right  to  such  or  such 
acts  of  hostility  varies  according  to  their  circumstances.  What 
is  just  and  perfectly  innocent  in  a  war,  in  one  particular  situ 
ation,  is  not  always  so  in  another.  Right  goes  hand  in 
hand  with  necessity,  and  the  exigency  of  the  case  ;  but  never 
exceeds  it.'  This,  sir,  is  the  first  dictate  of  nature,  and  the 
practice  of  nations ;  and  if  your  misfortunes  and  distresses 
should  be  sad  and  dreadful,  you  are  let  loose  from  those 
common  restraints  which  may  be  proper  on  common  occa 
sions,  in  order  to  preserve  the  great  rights  of  human  nature. 
"  This  is  laid  down  by  that  great  writer  in  clear  and  une 
quivocal  terms.  If  then,  sir,  it  be  certain,  from  a  recurrence 
to  facts,  that  it  was  necessary  for  America  to  seize  on  British 
property,  this  book  warrants  the  legislature  of  this  state  in 
passing  those  confiscating  and  prohibitory  laws.  I  need  only 
refer  to  your  recollection,  for  our  pressing  situation  during 
the  late  contest ;  and  happy  am  I,  that  this  all-important 
question  comes  on,  before  the  heads  of  those  who,  were  actors 
in  the  great  scene,  are  laid  in  the  dust.  An  uninformed  pos 
terity  would  be  unacquainted  with  the  awful  necessity  which 
impelled  us  on.  If  the  means  were  within  reach,  we  were 
warranted  by  the  laws  of  nature  and  nations  to  use  them. 
The  fact  was,  that  we  were  attacked  by  one  of  the  most  formi 
dable  nations  under  heaven ;  a  nation  that  carried  terror  and 
dread  with  its  thunder  to  both  hemispheres." — [This  illustra 
tion  of  the  power  of  Great  Britain  was,  if  we  may  trust 


352  WIRT'S    LIFE    OF 

respectable  tradition,  much  more  expanded  than  we  find  it  in 
the  report ;  and  such  was  the  force  of  his  imagination,  and 
the  irresistible  energy  of  his  delivery  and  action,  that  the 
audience  now  felt  themselves  instinctively  recoiling  from  the 
tremendous  power  of  that  very  nation,  which  but  a  short  time 
before  had  been  exhibited  as  a  mere  dot  in  the  Atlantic,  a 
point  so  microscopic  as  to  be  scarcely  visible  to  the  naked 
eye  :  he  proceeds  to  close  the  first  member  of  his  first  point 
thus :] — "  Our  united  property  enabled  us  to  look  in  the  face 
that  mighty  people.  Dared  we  to  have  gone  in  opposition 
to  them  bound  hand  and  foot  ?  Would  we  have  dared  to 
resist  them  fettered?  for  we  should  have  been  fettered,  if 
we  had  been  deprived  of  so  considerable  a  part  of  our  little 
stock  of  national  resources.  In  that  most  critical  and  dan 
gerous  emergency,  our  all  was  but  a  little  thing.  Had  we  a 
treasury — an  exchequer  ?  Had  we  commerce  ?  Had  we 
any  revenue  ?  Had  we  any  thing  from  which  a  nation 
could  draw  wealth  ?  No,  sir.  Our  credit  became  the  scorn 
of  our  foes.  However,  the  efforts  of  certain  patriotic  charac 
ters  (there  were  not  a  few  of  them,  thank  Heaven)  gave  us 
credit  among  our  own  people.  But  we  had  not  a  farthing  to 
spare.  We  were  obliged  to  go  on  a  most  grievous  antici 
pation,  the  weight  of  which  we  feel  at  this  day.  Recur  to 
our  actual  situation,  and  the  means  we  had  of  defending 
ourselves.  The  actual  situation  of  America  is  described  here, 
where  this  author  says,  '  that  right  goes  hand  in  hand 
with  necessity?  The  necessity  being  great  and  dreadful, 
you  are  warranted  to  lay  hold  of  every  atom  of  money  within 
your  reach,  especially  if  it  be  the  money  of  your  enemies. 
It  is  prudent  and  necessary  to  strengthen  yourselves  and 
weaken  your  enemies.  Vattel,  book  3d,  ch.  8,  sect.  138, 
says,  '  The  business  of  a  just  war  being  to  suppress  violence 


PATRICK    HENRY.  353 

and  injustice,  it  gives  a  right  to  compel,  by  force,  him  who 
is  deaf  to  the  voice  of  justice.  It  gives  a  right  of  doing 
against  the  enemy,  whatever  is  necessary  for  weakening 
him — for  disabling  him  from  making  any  farther  resistance 
in  support  of  his  injustice — and  the  most  effectual,  the  most 
proper  methods  may  be  chosen,  provided  they  have  nothing 
odious,  be  not  unlawful  in  themselves,  or  exploded  by  the 
law  of  nature.'  Here  let  me  pause  for  a  moment,  and  ask, 
whether  it  be  odious  in  itself,  or  exploded  by  the  law  of  na 
ture,  to  seize  those  debts  ? 

"  No — because  the  money  was  taken  from  the  very  offend 
ers.       We    fought   for   the    great,   unalienable,   hereditary 
rights   of   human  nature.       An  unwarrantable   attack  was 
made  upon  us.      An  attack,  not   only  not   congenial   with 
motherly  or  parental  tenderness,  but  incompatible  with  the 
principles  of  humanity  or  civilization.      Our  defence  then 
was  a  necessary  one.     What  says  Vattel,  book  3d,  ch.  8, 
sect.  136  ? — '  The  end  of  a  just  war  is  to  revenge  or  prevent 
injury ;  that  is,  to  procure  by  force  the  justice  which  cannot 
otherwise  be  obtained ;  to  compel  an  unjust  person  to  repair  an 
injury  already  done,  or  to  give  securities  against  any  wrong 
threatened  by  him.     On  a  declaration  of  war,  therefore,  this 
nation  has  a  right  of  doing  against  the  enemy  whatever  is 
necessary  to  this  justifiable  end  of  bringing  him  to  reason,  and 
obtaining  justice  and  security  from  him.'     We  have  taken 
nothing  in  this  necessary  defence,  but  from  the  very  offend 
ers — those  who  unjustly  attacked  us  :  for  we  had  a  right  of 
considering  every  individual  of  the  British  nation  as  an  ene 
my.     This  I  prove  by  the  same  great  writer,  p.  519,  sect. 
1 39,  of  the  same  book : — c  An  enemy  attacking  me  unjustly 
gives  an  undoubted  right  of  repelling  his  violences ;  and  he 
who  opposes  me  in  arms,  when  I  demand  only  my  right, 
2  Y  30* 


354  WIRTSLIFEOF 

becomes  himself  the  real  aggressor,  by  his  unjust  resistance. 
He  is  the  first  author  of  the  violence,  and  obliges  me  to  make 
use  of  force,  for  securing  myself  against  the  wrongs  intended 
me  either  in  my  person  or  possessions ;  for  if  the  effects  of 
this  force  proceed  so  far  as  to  take  away  his  life,  he  owes  the 
misfortune  to  himself;  for,  if  by  sparing  him,  I  should  sub 
mit  to  the  injury,  the  good  would  soon  become  the  prey  of  the 
wicked.  Hence  the  right  of  killing  enemies  in  a  just  war 
is  derived ;  when  their  resistance  cannot  be  suppressed— 
when  they  are  not  to  be  reduced  by  milder  methods,  there  is 
a  right  of  taking  away  their  life.  Under  the  name  of  ene- 
mies,  as  we  have  already  shown,  are  comprehended  not  only 
the  first  author  of  the  war,  but  likewise  all  who  join  him, 
and  fight  for  his  cause?  Thus  I  think  the  first  part  of  my 
position  confirmed  and  unshaken ;  that  in  common  wars,  a 
nation  not  restrained  by  the  customary  law  of  nations,  has  a 
right  to  confiscate  debts." 

In  the  second  member  of  that  point,  he  is  released 
from  the  servility  of  quotation ;  and,  to  borrow  a  phrase  of 
his  own,  "  remitted  to  the  amplitude"  of  his  natural  genius : 
the  reader  will  therefore  be  amused  by  a  more  copious  ex 
tract  : — "  From  this  I  will  go  on  to  the  other  branch  of  my 
position  :  that  if,  in  common  wars,  debts  be  liable  to  for 
feiture,  a  fortiori,  must  they  be  so  in  a  revolution  war.  Let 
me  contrast  the  late  war  with  wars  in  common.  According 
to  those  people  called  kings,  wars  in  common  are  systematic 
and  produced  for  trifles  ;  for  not  conforming  to  imaginary 
honours  ;  because  you  have  not  lowered  your  flag  before 
him  at  sea ;  or  for  a  supposed  affront  to  the  person  of  an 
ambassador.  Nations  are  set  by  the  ears,  and  the  most 
horrid  devastations  are  brought  on  mankind,  for  the  most 


PATRICK     HENRY.  355 

frivolous  causes.  If  then,  when  small  matters  are  m  con 
test,  debts  be  forfeitable,  what  must  have  accrued  to  us,  as 
engaged  in  the  late  revolution  war — a  war  commenced  in 
attainder,  perfidy,  and  confiscation  ?  If  we  take  with  us 
this  great  principle  of  Vattel,  that  right  goes  in  hand  with 
necessity,  and  consider  the  peculiar  situation  of  the  American 
people,  we  will  find  reason  more  than  sufficient  to  give  us  a 
right  of  confiscating  those  debts. 

"  The  most  striking  peculiarity  attended  the  American  war. 
In  the  first  of  it,  we  were  stripped  of  every  municipal  right. 
Rights  and  obligations  are  correspondent,  co-extensive,  and 
inseparable — they  must  exist  together,  or  not  at  all.  We 
were,  therefore,  when  stripped  of  all  our  municipal  rights, 
clear  of  every  municipal  obligation,  burden,  and  onerous  en 
gagement.  If  then  the  obligation  be  gone,  what  is  become  of 
the  correspondent  right  ?  They  are  mutually  gone." — These 
little  words,  "  they  are  mutually  gone,"  which  would  have 
made  no  figure  in  the  pronunciation  of  an  ordinary  speaker, 
are  said  to  have  formed  a  beautiful  picture,  as  delivered  by 
Mr.  Henry :  his  eyes  seemed  to  have  pursued  these  associated 
objects  to  the  extremest  verge  of  mortal  sight,  while  the  fall 
of  his  voice,  and  correspondent  fall  of  his  extended  hand, 
with  the  palm  downward,  depicted  the  idea  of  evanescence 
with  indescribable  force :  the  audience  might  imagine,  that 
they  saw  the  objects  at  the  very  instant  when  they  vanished 
in  the  distance,  and  became  commingled  with  the  air :  and 
all  this,  too,  without  any  affected  pause  to  give  it  effect ;  with 
out  any  apparent  effort  on  his  part ;  but  with  all  the  quick 
ness  of  thought  and  all  the  ease  of  nature. — "  The  case  of 
sovereign  and  independent  nations  at  war  is  far  different; 
because,  there  private  right  is  respected,  and  domestic  asylum 


356  WIRT'S    LIFE   OF 

held  sacred.  Was  it  the  case  in  our  war  ?  No,  sir.  Dag 
gers  were  planted  in  your  chambers,  and  mischief,  death, 
and  destruction,  might  meet  you  at  your  fireside. 

1  There  is  an  essential  variance  between  the  late  war  and 
common  wars.  In  common  wars,  children  are  not  obliged 
to  fight  against  their  fathers,  nor  brothers  against  brothers, 
nor  kindred  against  kindred.  Our  men  were  compelled, 
contrary  to  the  most  sacred  ties  of  humanity,  to  shed  the 
blood  of  their  dearest  connexions.  In  common  wars,  con 
tending  parties  respect  municipal  rights,  and  leave  even  to 
those  they  invade,  the  means  of  paying  debts,  and  complying 
with  obligations ;  they  touch  not  private  property.  For  ex 
ample,  when  a  British  army  lands  in  France,  they  plunder 
nothing :  they  pay  for  what  they  have,  and  respect  the  tribu 
nals  of  justice,  unless  they  have  a  mind  to  be  called  a  savage 
nation.  Were  we  thus  treated  ?  Were  we  permitted  to  exer 
cise  industry  and  to  collect  debts,  by  which  we  might  be  ena 
bled  to  pay  British  creditors  ?  Had  we  a  power  to  pursue  com 
merce  ?  No,  sir.  What  became  of  our  agriculture  ?  Our 
inhabitants  were  mercilessly  and  brutally  plundered,  and  our 
enemies  professed  to  maintain  their  army  by  those  means 
only.  Our  slaves  carried  away,  our  crops  burnt,  a  cruel 
war  carried  on  against  our  agriculture — disability  to  pay 
debts  produced  by  pillage  and  devastation,  contrary  to  every 
principle  of  national  law.  From  that  series  of  plenty  in 
which  we  had  been  accustomed  to  live  and  to  revel,  we 
were  plunged  into  eveiy  species  of  human  calamity.  Our 
lives  attacked — charge  of  rebels  fixed  upon  us — confiscation 
and  attainder  denounced  against  the  whole  continent ;  and 
he  that  was  called  king  of  England  sat  judge  upon  our  case — 
he  pronounced  his  judgment,  not  like  those  to  whom  poetic 
fancy  has  given  existence — not  like  him  who  sits  in  the  in- 


PATRICK    HENRY.  357 

fernal  regions,  and  dooms  to  the  Stygian  lake  those  spirits 
who  desene  it,  because  he  spares  the  innocent,  and  sends 
some  to  the  fields  of  Elysium — not  like  him  who  sat  in  an 
cient  imperial  Rome,  and  wished  the  people  had  but  one 
neck,  that  he  might  at  one  blow  strike  off  their  heads,  and 
spare  himself  the  trouble  of  carnage  and  massacre,  because 
one  city  would  have  satisfied  his  vengeance — not  like  any 
of  his  fellow-men,  for  nothing  would  satiate  his  sanguinary 
ferocity,  but  the  indiscriminate  destruction  of  a  whole  con 
tinent — involving  the  innocent  with  the  guilty.  Yes,  he 
sat  in  judgment  with  his  coadjutors,  and  pronounced  pro 
scription,  attainder,  and  forfeiture,  against  men,  women,  and 
even  children  at  the  breast.  Is  not  this  description  pointedly 
true  in  all  its  parts  ?  And  who  were  his  coadjutors  and 
executioners  in  this  strange  court  of  judicature  ?  Like  the 
fiends  of  poetic  imagination — Hessians,  Indians,  and  Ne 
groes,  were  his  coadjutors  and  executioners.  Is  there  any 
thing  in  this  sad  detail  of  oifences  which  is  unfounded  ?  any 
thing  not  enforced  by  the  act  of  parliament  against  America  ? 
We  were  thereby  driven  out  of  their  protection,  and  branded 
by  the  epithet  rebels.  The  term  rebel  may  not  now  appear 
in  all  its  train  of  horrid  consequences.  We  know  that  when 
a  person  is  called  rebel  by  that  government,  his  goods  and 
life  are  forfeited,  and  his  very  blood  pronounced  to  be  cor 
rupted,  and  the  severity  of  the  punishment  entailed  on  his 
posterity.  To  whom  may  we  apply  for  the  verity  of  this  ? 
The  jurisprudence  and  history  of  that  nation  prove,  that, 
when  they  speak  of  rebels,  nothing  but  blood  will  satisfy 
them.  Is  there  nothing  hideous  in  this  part  of  the  portrait? 
It  is  unparalleled  in  the  annals  of  mankind.  Though  I  have 
respect  for  individuals  of  that  nation,  my  duty  constrains  me 
to  speak  ihus. 


358  WIRT'SLIFEOF 

"  When  we  contemplate  this  mode  of  warfare,  and  the  sen 
timents  of  the  writers  on  natural  law  on  this  subject,  we  are 
justified  in  saying,  that  in  this  revolution  war,  we  had  a 
right  to  consider  British  debts  as  subject  to  confiscation — and 
to  seize  the  property  of  those  who  originated  that  war.  As 
to  the  injuries  done  to  agriculture,  they  appear  in  a  diminu 
tive  view,  when  compared  to  the  injuries  and  indignities  of 
fered  to  persons,  and  mansions  of  abode.  Sir,  from  your  seat 
you  might  have  seen  instances  of  the  most  grievous  hostility : 
not  only  private  property  wantonly  pillaged,  but  men, 
women,  and  children,  dragged  publicly  from  their  habitations, 
and  indiscriminately  devoted  to  destruction.  The  rights 
of  humanity  were  sacrificed.  We  were  then  deprived  not 
only  of  the  benefits  of  municipal,  but  natural  law.  If  there 
shall  grow  out  of  these  considerations  a  palpable  disability  to 
pay  those  debts,  I  ask  if  the  claim  be  just  ?  For  that  disa 
bility  was  produced  by  those  excesses — by  those  very  men 
who  come  on  us  now  for  payment.  Here  give  me  leave  to 
say,  that  they  sold  us  a  bad  title  in  whatever  they  sold  us — 
in  real  as  well  as  in  personal  property.  Describe  the  nature 
of  a  debt :  it  is  an  engagement  or  promise  to  pay — but  it 
must  be  for  a  valuable  consideration.  Jf  this  be  clear,  was 
not  the  title,  to  whatever  property  they  sold  us,  bad  in  every 
sense  of  the  word,  when  the  war  followed  ?  What  can  add 
value  t(  property  ?  Force.  Notwithstanding  the  equity  and 
fairness  of  the  debt  when  incurred,  if  the  security  of  the 
property  received  was  afterward  destroyed,  the  title  has 
proved  defective.  Suppose  millions  were  contracted  for  and 
received,  those  millions  give  you  no  advantage,  without  force 
to  protect  them.  This  necessary  protection  is  withdrawn  by 
the  very  men  who  were  bound  to  afford  it,  and  who  now 
demand  payment.  Neither  lands,  slaves,  nor  other  property 


PATRICK     HENRY.  359 

are  worth  a  shilling,  without  protecting  force.  This  title  was 
destroyed,  when  the  act  of  parliament,  putting  us  out  of 
their  protection,  passed  against  America.  I  say,  sir,  the 
title  was  destroyed  by  the  very  offenders  who  come  here  now 
and  demand  payment.  Justice  and  equity  cancel  the  obliga 
tion  as  to  the  price  that  was  to  be  given  for  it,  because  the 
tenure  is  destroyed,  and  the  effects  purchased  have  no  value. 
Such  a  claim  is  unsupported  by  the  plainest  notions  of  right 
and  wrong.  For  this  long  catalogue  of  offences  committed 
against  the  citizens  of  America,  every  individual  of  the  Brit 
ish  nation  is  accountable.  How  are  you  to  be  compensated 
for  those  depredations  on  persons  and  property  ?  Are  you 
to  go  to  the  kingdom  of  England,  to  find  the  very  individual 
who  did  you  the  outrage,  and  demand  satisfaction  of  him  ? 
To  tell  you  of  such  a  remedy  as  this,  is  adding  insult  to 
injury.  Every  individual  is  chargeable  with  national  of 
fences." 

To  maintain  this  last  position,  he  cites  an  authority  ex 
pressly  in  point,  from  Vattel,  and  proceeds  thus  : — "  These 
observations  of  Vattel  amount  to  this :  that  a  king  or  con 
ductor  of  a  nation  is  considered  as  a  moral  person,  by  means 
of  whom  the  nation  acquires  or  loses  its  rights,  and  subjects 
itself  to  penalties.  The  individuals,  and  the  nation  which 
they  compose,  are  one.  I  will  therefore  take  it  for  granted, 
that  whatever  violences  and  excesses  were  committed  on 
this  continent  are  chargeable  to  the  plaintiff  in  this  very 
action.  Recollect  our  distressed  situation.  We  had  no  ex 
chequer,  no  finances,  no  army,  no  navy,  no  common  means 
of  defence.  Our  necessity — dire  necessity  compelled  us  to 
throw  aside  those  rules  which  respect  private  properly,  and 
to  make  impresses  on  our  own  citizens  to  support  the  war 


360  WIRT'S     LIFE    OF 

Right  and  necessity  being  co-extensive,  we  were  compelled 
to  exert  a  right  the  most  eminent  over  the  whole  community. 
The  solus  populi  demanded  what  we  did.  If  we  had  a 
right  to  disregard  the  legal  fences  thrown  round  the  property 
of  our  citizens,  had  we  not  a  greater  right  to  take  British 
property  ? 

"  Another  peculiarity  contributes  to  aid  our  defence.  The 
want  of  an  exchequer  obliged  us  to  emit  paper  money, 
and  compel  our  citizens  to  receive  it  for  gold,  in  the  ears 
of  some  men  this  sounds  harshly.  But  they  are  young  men, 
who  do  not  know  and  feel  the  irresistible  necessity  that 
urged  us.  Would  your  armies  have  been  raised,  clothed 
maintained,  or  kept  together  without  paper  money  ?  With 
out  it,  the  war  would  have  stood  still,  resistance  to  tyranny 
would  have  stopped,  and  despotism,  with  all  its  horrid  train 
of  appurtenances,  must  have  depressed  your  country.  We 
compelled  the  people  to  receive  it  in  payment  of  all  debts — 
we  induced  and  invited  them  (if  we  did  not  compel  them)  to 
put  it  into  the  treasury,  as  a  complete  discharge  from  their 
debts.  Sir,  I  trust  I  shall  not  live  to  see  the  day,  when  the 
public  councils  of  America,  will  give  ground  to  say  that  this 
was  a  state  trick,  contrived  to  delude  and  defraud  the  citi 
zens  What  must  it  be  ostensibly,  when,  by  the  compact  of 
your  nation,  they  had  publicly  bound  and  pledged  themselves, 
that  it  was  and  should  be  money,  if  afterward,  in  the  course 
of  human  events,  when  temptations  present  themselves,  they 
shall  declare  that  it  is  not  money  ?  Sir,  the  honest  planter 
is  unskilled  in  political  tricks  and  deceptions.  His  interest 
ought  never  to  be  sacrificed.  The  law  is  his  guide.  The 
law  compelled  him  to  receive  it,  and  his  countrymen  would 
have  branded  him  with  the  name  of  enemy  if  he  had  refused 
it.  The  laws  of  the  country  are  as  sacred  as  the  imaginary 


PATRICK     HENRY.  361 

sanctity  of  British  debts.  Sir,  national  engagements  ought 
to  be  held  sacred ;  the  public  violation  of  this  solemn  engage 
ment  will  destroy  all  confidence  in  the  government.  If  you 
depart  from  the  national  compact  one  iota,  you  give  a  danger 
ous  precedent,  which  may  imperceptibly  and  gradually  intro 
duce  the  most  destructive  encroachment  on  human  rights." 

He  then  proceeds  to  notice  more  directly  the  objection,  that 
we  were  not  a  people  competent  for  legislation  till  the  assent 
of  the  British  king  was  given  to  our  independence  : — "  I  will 
beg  leave  here  to  dissent  from  the  position  of  the  gentleman 
on  the  other  side,  which  denied  that  we  were  a  people,  till 
our  enemies  were  pleased  to  say  we  were  so.  That  we  were 
a  people,  and  had  a  right  to  do  every  thing  which  a  great 
and  a  royal — nay,  an  imperial  people  could  do,  is  clear  and 
indisputable.  Though  under  the  humble  appearance  of  re 
publicanism,  our  government  and  national  existence,  when 
examined,  are  as  solid  as  a  rock — not  resting  on  the  mere 
fraud  and  oppression  of  rulers,  nor  the  credulity,  nor  barba 
rous  ignorance  of  the  people ;  but  founded  on  the  conseni 
and  conviction  of  enlightened  human  nature.  That  we  had 
every  right  that  completely  independent  nations  can  have, 
will  be  satisfactorily  proved  to  your  honours,  by  again  refer 
ring  to  Vattel."  He  then  cites  and  reads  a  passage  from 
Vattel,  the  effect  of  which  is,  that  during  a  civil  war,  the 
parties,  acknowledging  no  common  judge  on  earth,  are  to  be 
considered  as  two  distinct  people ;  and  to  govern  themselves 
in  the  conduct  of  the  war  by  the  general  laws  of  nations. 
After  which  he  proceeds  thus  : — 

"  Here  then,  sir,  is  proof  abundant,  that  before  the  acknow 
ledgment    of  American    independence   by    Great    Britain, 
2Z  31 


362  WIRT'S    LIFE     OF 

we  had  a  right  to  be  considered  as  a  nation;  because,  on 
earth  we  had  no  common  superior,  to  give  a  decision  of  the 
dispute  between  us  and  our  sovereign.  After  declaring  our 
selves  a  sovereign  people,  we  had  every  right  a  nation  can 
claim  as  an  independent  community.  But  the  gentlemen  on 
the  other  side  greatly  rely  upon  this  principle,  that  a  contract 
cannot  be  dissolved  without  the  consent  of  all  the  contract 
ing  parties :  the  inference  is,  that  the  consent  of  the  king  of 
Great  Britain  was  necessary  to  the  dissolution  of  the  govern 
ment.  Tyranny  has  too  often,  and  too  successfully  riveted 
its  chains,  to  warrant  a  belief,  that  a  tyrant  will  ever  volun 
tarily  release  his  subjects  from  the  governmental  compact. 
Rather  might  it  be  expected,  that  the  last  iota  of  human  mis 
ery  would  be  borne,  and  the  oppression  would  descend  from 
father  to  son,  to  the  latest  period  of  earthly  existence.  The 
despotism  of  our  sovereign  ought  to  be  considered  as  an  im 
plied  consent,  on  his  part,  to  dissolve  the  compact  between 
us  ;  and  he  and  his  subjects  must  be  considered  as  one — 
there  can  be  no  distinction.  For,  in  any  other  view,  his 
consent  could  not  have  been  obtained  without  force.  There 
is  such  a  thing,  indeed,  as  tyranny  from  free  choice.  Sweden 
not  long  ago  surrendered  its  liberties  in  one  day,  as  Den 
mark  had  done  formerly ;  so  that  this  branch  of  the  human 
family  is  cut  off  from  every  possible  enjoyment  of  human 
rights.  But  the  right  to  resist  oppression  is  not  denied. 
The  gentlemen's  doctrine  cannot  therefore  apply  to  national 
communities.  If  any  additional  force  was  wanting  to  con 
firm  what  I  advance,  it  would  be  derived  from  the  treaty  of 
peace,  which  further  proves,  that  we  were  entitled  to  all  the 
privileges  of  independent  nations.  The  consent  of  all  the 
people  of  Europe  said  we  were  free.  Our  former  master 
withheld  his  consent  till  a  few  unlucky  events  compelled 


PATRICK     HENRY.  363 

Irm.  And  when  he  gave  his  Jiat,  it  gave  us,  by  relation 
back  to  the  time  of  the  declaration  of  independence,  all 
the  rights  and  privileges  of  a  completely  sovereign  nation : 
our  independence  was  acknowledged  by  him,  previous  to  the 
completion  of  the  treaty  of  peace.  It  was  not  a  condition 
of  the  treaty,  but  was  acknowledged,  by  his  own  overture, 
preparatory  to  it.  View  the  consequences  of  their  fatal  doc 
trine.  There  would  not  only  have  been  long  arrears  of 
debts  to  pay,  but  a  long  catalogue  of  crimes  to  be  punished. 
If  the  ultimate  acknowledgment  of  our  independence  by 
Great  Britain  had  not  relation  back  to  the  time  of  the  decla 
ration  of  independence,  all  the  intermediate  acts  of  legisla 
tion  would  be  void — and  every  decision  and  act,  consequent 
thereon,  would  be  null.  But,  sir,  we  were  a  complete  nation 
on  every  principle,  according  to  the  authorities  I  have  already 
read  ;  in  addition  to  which  I  will  refer  your  honours  to  Vat- 
tel,  book  iv.  ch.  vii.  sect.  88,  to  show  we  were  entitled  to  the 
benefits  of  national  law,  and  to  use  all  the  resources  of  the 
community  :  '  From  the  equality  of  all  nations  really  sove 
reign  and  independent,  it  is  a  principle  of  the  voluntary  law 
of  nations,  that  no  nation  can  control  another  in  its  internal 
municipal  legislation.'  If  we  consider  the  business  of  confis 
cation  according  to  the  immemorial  usages  of  Great  Britain, 
vve  will  find,  that  the  law  and  practice  of  that  country  sup 
port  my  position.  In  the  wars  which  respect  revolutions 
which  have  taken  place  in  that  island — life,  fortune,  goods, 
debts,  and  every  thing  else  were  confiscated.  The  crimen 
lasez  majestatis,  as  it  is  called,  involved  every  thing.  Every 
possible  punishment  has  been  inflicted  on  suffering  humanity 
that  it  could  endure,  by  the  party  which  had  the  superiority 
in  those  wars,  over  the  defeated  party,  which  was  charged 
with  rebellion. 


364  WIRT'S    LIFE     OF 

"  What  would  have  been  the  consequences,  sir,  if  we  had 
been  conquered  ?  Were  we  not  fighting  against  that  ma 
jesty  ?  Would  the  justice  of  our  opposition  have  been  con 
sidered  ?  The  most  horrid  forfeitures,  confiscations,  and 
attainders,  would  have  been  pronounced  against  us.  Con 
sider  their  history,  from  the  time  of  William  the  First  till  this 
day.  Were  not  his  Normans  gratified  with  the  confiscation 
of  the  richest  estates  in  England  ?  Read  the  excessive  cru 
elties,  attainders,  and  confiscations,  of  that  reign.  England 
depopulated — its  inhabitants  stripped  of  the  dearest  privileges 
of  humanity — degraded  with  the  most  ignominious  badges  of 
bondage — and  totally  deprived  of  the  power  of  resistance  to 
usurpation  and  tyranny.  This  inability  continued  to  the 
time  of  Henry  the  Eighth.  In  his  reign,  the  business  of 
confiscation  and  attainder,  made  considerable  havoc.  After 
his  reign,  some  stop  was  put  to  that  effusion  of  blood  which 
preceded  and  happened  under  it.  Recollect  the  sad  and 
lamentable  effects  of  the  York  and  Lancastrian  wars.  Re 
member  the  rancorous  hatred  and  inveterate  detestations  of 
contending  factions — the  distinction  of  the  white  and  red 
roses.  To  come  a  little  lower — what  happened  in  that  island 
in  the  rebellions  of  1715  and  1745?  If  we  had  been  con 
quered,  would  not  our  men  have  shared  the  fate  of  the 
people  of  Ireland  ?  A  great  part  of  that  island  was  confis 
cated,  though  the  Irish  people  thought  themselves  engaged 
in  a  laudable  cause.  What  confiscation  and  punishments 
were  inflicted  in  Scotland?  The  plains  of  Culloden,  and 
the  neighbouring  gibbets,  would  show  you.  I  thank  Heaven 
that  the  spirit  of  liberty,  under  the  protection  of  the  Almighty, 
saved  us  from  experiencing  so  hard  a  destiny.  But  had  we 
been  subdued,  would  not  every  right  have  been  wrested 
from  us  ?  What  right  would  have  been  saved  ?  Would 


PATRICK     HENRY.  365 

debts  have  been  saved  ?  Would  it  not  be  absurd,  to  save 
debts,  while  they  should  burn,  hang,  and  destroy  ?  'Before 
we  can  decide  with  precision,  we  are  to  consider  the  dan 
gers  we  should  have  been  exposed  to  had  we  been  subdued. 
After  presenting  to  your  view  this  true  picture  of  what 
would  have  been  our  situation,  had  we  been  subjugated — 
surely  a  correspondent  right  will  be  found,  growing  out  of 
the  law  of  nations,  in  our  favour.  Had  our  subjugation 
been  effected,  and  we  pleaded  for  pardon — represented  that 
we  defended  the  most  valuable  rights  of  human  nature,  and 
thought  they  were  wrong — would  our  petition  have  availed  ? 
I  feel  myself  impelled,  from  what  has  passed,  to  ask  this 
question.  I  would  not  wish  to  have  lived  to  see  the  sad  scenes 
we  should  have  experienced.  Needy  avarice,  and  savage 
cruelty,  would  have  had  full  scope.  Hungry  Germans r 
blood-thirsty  Indians,  and  nations  of  another  colour,  would 
have  been  let  loose  upon  us.  The  sad  effects  of  such  war 
fare  have  had  their  full  influence  on  a  number  of  our  fellow- 
citizens.  Sir,  if  you  had  seen  the  sad  scenes  which  I  have 
known ;  if  you  had  seen  the  simple  but  tranquil  felicity  of 
helpless  and  unoffending  women  and  children,  in  little  log- 
huts  on  the  frontiers,  disturbed  and  destroyed  by  the  sad 
effects  of  British  warfare  and  Indian  butchery,  your  soul 
would  have  been  struck  with  horror!  Even  those  helpless 
women  and  children  were  the  objects  of  the  most  shocking 
barbarity 

"  Give  me  leave  again  to  recur  to  Vattel,  p.  9  : — *  Nations 
being  free,  independent,  and  equal,  and  having  a  right  to 
judge  according  to  the  dictates  of  conscience,  of  what  is  to  be 
done  in  order  to  fulfil  its  duties ;  the  effect  of  all  this  is,  the 
producing,  at  least  externally  and  among  men,  a  perfect 
equality  of  i  ights  between  nations,  in  the  administration  of 

31* 


366  WIRT'S    LIFE    OF 

their  affairs,  and  the  pursuit  of  their  pretensions,  without  re 
gard  to  the  intrinsic  justice  of  their  conduct,  of  which  others 
have  no  right  to  form  a  definitive  judgment :  so  that  what  is 
permitted  in  one,  is  also  permitted  in  the  other;  and  they 
ought  to  be  considered  in  human  society  as  having  an  equal 
right.'  If  it  be  allowed  to  the  British  nation  to  put  to  death, 
to  forfeit  and  confiscate  debts  and  every  thing  else,  may  we 
not  (having  an  equal  right)  confiscate — not  life,  for  we  never 
desire  it — but  that  which  is  the  common  object  of  confisca 
tion — property,  goods,  and  debts,  which  strengthen  ourselves 
and  weaken  our  enemies  ?  I  trust  that  this  short  recapitula 
tion  of  events  shows,  that  if  there  ever  was  in  the  history  oi 
man  a  case  requiring  the  full  use  of  all  human  means,  it  was 
our  case  in  the  late  contest ;  and  we  were  therefore  warranted 
to  confiscate  the  British  debts." 

He  now  takes  another  ground  to  establish  the  confiscation, 
I  shall  give  his  whole  argument  on  this  point  in  his  own 
words  : — 

"  I  beg  leave  to  add  that  these  debts  are  lost  on  another 
principle.  By  the  dissolution  of  the  British  government, 
America  went  into  a  state  of  nature — on  the  dissolution  of 
that  of  which  we  had  been  members,  there  being  no  govern 
ment  antecedent,  we  went  necessarily  into  a  state  of  nature. 
To  prove  this,  I  need  only  refer  to  the  declaration  of  inde 
pendence,  pronounced  on  the  fourth  day  of  July,  1776,  and 
our  state  constitution." — Here  Mr.  Henry  read  part  of  the 
constitution. — "  It  recites  many  instances  of  misrule  by  the 
king  of  England — it  asserts  the  right  and  expediency  of  dis 
solving  the  British  government,  and  going  into  a  state  of 
nature  ;  or,  in  other  words,  to  establish  a  new  government. 


PATRICK     HENRY.  367 

The  right  of  dissolving  it,  and  forming  a  new  system,  had 
preceded  the  fourth  day  of  July,  1776.  A  recapitulation  of 
tne  events  of  the  tyrannical  acts  of  government,  would  demon 
strate  a  right  to  dissolve  it.  But  I  may  go  farther,  and  even 
say,  that  the  act  of  parliament  which  declared  us  out  of  the 
king's  protection,  dissolved  it.  For  what  is  government  ? 
It  is  an  express  or  implied  compact  between  the  rulers  and 
ruled,  stipulating  reciprocal  protection  and  obedience.  That 
protection  was  withdrawn,  solemnly  withdrawn  from  us.  Of 
consequence,  obedience  ceased  to  be  due.  Our  municipal 
rights  were  taken  away  by  one  blow.  Municipal  obligations 
and  government  were  also  taken  away  by  the  same  blow. 
Well,  then,  there  being  no  antecedent  government,  we  re 
turned  into  a  state  of  nature.  Unless  we  did  so,  our  new 
compact  of  government  could  only  be  a  usurpation.  In  a 
state  of  nature  there  is  no  legal  lien  in  the  person  or  property 
of  any  one.  If  you  are  not  clear  of  every  antecedent  en 
gagement,  what  is  the  legality  or  strength  of  the  present 
constitution  of  government?  If  any  antecedent  engage 
ments  are  to  bind,  how  far  are  they  to  reach  ?  You  had  no 
right  to  form  a  new  government,  if  the  old  system  existed ; 
and  if  it  did  not  exist,  you  were  necessarily  and  inevitably 
in  a  state  of  nature.  In  my  humble  opinion,  by  giving  va 
lidity  to  such  claims,  you  destroy  the  very  idea  of  the  right 
to  form  a  new  government.  Vattel  calls  government  the 
totality  of  persons,  estates,  and  effects,  formed  by  every  indi 
vidual  of  the  new  society,  and  that  totality  represented  by 
the  governing  power.  How  can  the  totality  exist  while  an 
antecedent  right  exists  elsewhere  ?  See  Grotius,  p.  4,  which 
I  have  already  read,  and  note  29  :  because  the  design  arid 
good  of  civil  society  necessarily  require,  that  the  natural  and 
acquired  rights  of  each  member  should  admit  oi  limitations 


368  WIRT'SLIFEOF 

several  ways,  and  to  a  certain  degree,  by  the  authority  of 
him  or  them,  in  whose  hands  the  sovereign  authority  is 
lodged.  When  we  formed  a  new  government,  did  there 
exist  any  authority  that  limited  our  rights  ?  How  can  the 
totality  exist,  if  any  other  person  or  persons  have  an  existing 
claim  upon  you  ?  It  appears  to  me,  that  that  equality  which 
is  involved  in  a  state  of  nature  cannot  exist  while  such  claim 
exists.  The  court  will  recollect  what  I  have  already  read 
out  of  Vattel,  in  the  sections  15  and  18.  The  equality  here 
ascribed  to  independent  nations  is  equally  ascribed  to  men 
in  a  state  of  nature.  A  moral  society  of  persons  cannot  exist 
without  this  absolute  equality.  The  existence  of  individuals 
in  a  state  of  nature,  depends  in  like  manner  upon,  and  is 
inseparable  from  such  equality. 

"  Rights,  as  before-mentioned,  Vattel,  pp.  8  and  9,  are 
divided  into  internal  and  external:  of  external  rights,  he 
makes  the  distinction  of  perfect  and  imperfect.  I  beseech 
your  honours  to  fix  this  distinction  in  your  minds.  The 
perfect  external  right  only  is  accompanied  with  the  right  of 
constraint.  The  imperfect  right  loses  that  quality,  and 
leaves  it  to  the  party  to  comply  or  not  to  comply  with  it. 
When  the  former  government  was  dissolved,  the  A  merican 
people  became  indebted  to  nobody.  You  either  owe  every 
thing  or  nothing — and  every  contract  and  engagement  must 
be  done  away,  if  any.  In  a  state  of  nature  you  are  free  and 
equal.  But  how  are  you  free,  if  another  have  a  lien  on  your 
body  ?  Where  is  your  freedom,  or  your  equality  with  that 
person,  who  has  the  right  of  constraining  you  ?  This  right 
of  constraint  implies  a  complete  authority  over  you,  but  not 
however  to  enslave  you.  This  constraint  is  always  adequate 
to  the  right  or  obligation.  Where  can  you  find  the  possibility 
of  this  equality  which  nature  gives  her  sons,  if  we  admit  an 


PATRICK      HENRY.  369 

existing  right  of  constraint?  If  it  be  a  fact,  that  on  the 
dissolution  of  the  government  we  did  enter  into  a  state  of 
nature,  (and  that  we  did,  I  humbly  judge,  cannot  be  denied, 
as  at  that  time  no  government  existed  at  all,)  it  destroys  all 
claim  to  one  farthing.  This  will  be  found  to  be  true,  as 
well  upon  the  ground  of  equity  and  good  conscience  as  in 
law,  when  it  is  considered,  that  when  we  went  into  a  state 
of  nature,  the  means  of  paying  debts  were  taken  away  from 
us  by  them ;  because,  so  far  as  they  had  power  over  us,  they 
prevented  us  from  getting  money  to  pay  debts.  They  inter 
dicted  us  from  the  pursuit  of  profitable  commerce;  from 
getting  gold  and  silver,  the  only  things  they  would  take — 
they  unjustly  drove  us  to  this  extremity.  By  the  conces 
sion  of  the  worthy  gentlemen,  their  attack  upon  us  was 
unjust. 

"  But  then,  debts  are  not  subject  to  confiscation,  say  gen 
tlemen,  because  there  were  no  inquests,  no  office  found  for 
the  commonwealth.  Has  a  debt  an  ear-mark  ?  Is  it  tangible 
or  visible  ?  Has  it  any  discriminating  quality  ?  Unless  tan 
gible  or  visible,  how  is  it  to  be  ascertained  or  distinguished  ? 
What  does  an  inquest  mean  ?  A  solemn  inquiry  by  a 
jury,  by  ocular  examination,  with  other  proofs.  If  an  in 
quest  of  office  were  to  be  had  of  land,  a  jury  could  tell  the 
lines  and  boundaries  of  it,  because  they  may  be  distinguished 
from  others,  and  its  identity  may  thereby  be  ascertained.  If 
a  horse  be  the  object  of  inquiry,  he  can  be  easily  distinguished 
from  any  other  horse.  In  like  manner  every  other  article 
of  visible  property  may  be  subject  to  inquests  ;  but  such  a 
thing  as  an  inquest  of  a  debt  never  existed,  as  far  as  my 
legal  knowledge  extends.  What  are  to  be  the  consequences, 
if  this  proceeding  be  requisite  ?  You  must  set  up  a  court  of 
inquisition,  summon  the  whole  nation,  and  ask  every  man 
3A 


370  WIRT'SLIFEOF 

how  much  do  you  owe  ?  This  would  be  productive  of  end 
less  confusion,  perplexity  and  expense,  without  the  desired 
e fleet.  The  laws  of  war  and  of  nations  require  no  more 
than  that  the  sovereign  power  should  openly  signify  its  will, 
liiat  the  debts  be  forfeited.  There  is  no  particular  forensic 
form  necessary.  The  question  here  is  not,  whether  this  con 
fiscation  be  traversed  in  all  the  forms  of  municipal  regula 
tions.  There  is  a  question  between  Great  Britain  and  Amer 
ica  similar  to  that  between  Alexander  and  the  Thebans. 
Has  the  sovereign  signified  his  pleasure  that  debts  be 
remitted?  A  sign  is  completely  sufficient,  if  it  be  under 
stood  by  the  people.  There  is  a  necessity  of  thus  speaking 
the  legislative  will,  that  the  other  party  may  know  it,  and 
retaliate;  for  what  is  allowed  to  one,  is  to  both  parties. 
This  was  different  from  the  nature  of  a  solemn  war.  War 
is  lawful  or  unlawful,  according  to  the  manner  of  conducting 
it.  In  the  prosecution  of  a  lawful  solemn  war,  it  is  neces 
sary  that  you  do  not  depart  from  certain  rules  of  modera 
tion,  honour,  and  humanity,  but  act  according  to  the  usual 
practice  of  belligerant  powers.  Did  the  mother-country  con 
duct  the  war  against  us  in  this  manner  ?  We  did  openly 
say,  we  mean  to  confiscate  your  debts,  and  modify  them,  be 
cause  they  have  lost  their  perfect  external  quality — they  are 
imperfect — we  claim  that  right,  as  a  sovereign  people,  over 
that  species  of  your  property.  Sir,  it  was  not  done  in  a  cor 
ner.  It  was  understood  by  our  enemies.  They  had  a  right 
to  retaliate  on  any  species  of  our  property  they  could  find 
The  right  of  retaliation,  or  just  retortion,  for  equivalent 
damage  on  any  part  of  an  enemy's  property,  is  permitted  to 
every  nation.  What  right  has  the  British  nation  (for  if  the 
nation  have  not  the  right,  none  of  its  people  have)  to  demand 
a  breach  of  faith  in  the  American  government  to  its  citizens '' 


PATRICK     HENRY.  371 

1  have  already  mentioned  the  engagement  of  the  govern 
ment  with  its  citizens  respecting  the  paper-money — If  you 
take  it,  it  shall  be  money.  Shall  it  be  judged  now  not  to 
be  money  ?  Shall  this  compact  be  broken  for  the  sake  of 
the  British  nation  ?  No,  sir,  the  language  of  national  law  is 
otherwise.  Sir,  the  laws  of  confiscation  and  paper-money 
made  together  one  system,  connected  and  sanctioned  by  the 
legislature,  on  which  depended  once  the  fate  of  our  country, 
and  on  which  depend  now  the  happiness,  the  ease,  and  com 
fort  of  thousands  of  your  fellow-citizens.  Will  it  not  be  a 
breach  of  the  compact  with  your  people,  to  say  that  the 
money  is  not  to  keep  up  its  original  standard  in  the  quality 
given  it  by  law  ?  What  were  the  effects  of  this  system  ? 
What  would  have  been  the  effects,  had  your  citizens  been 
apprized  that  British  debts  must  be  paid  ?  Would  they  have 
taken  the  money  ?  Would  they  have  deposited  the  money 
in  the  loan-office,  if  they  had  been  warned  by  law,  that  they 
must  deposite  it,  subject  to  the  future  regulations  of  peace ; 
that  it  should  not  release  them  from  the  creditors  ?  However 
right  it  may  appear  now  to  decry  the  paper-money,  it  would 
have  been  fatal  then ;  for  America  might  have  perished, 
without  the  aid  and  effect  of  that  medium.  Your  citizens, 
trusting  to  this  compact,  submitted  to  a  number  of  things 
almost  intolerable — impressments  and  violences  on  their 
property — it  encouraged  them  to  exert  inemselves  in  defence 
of  their  property  against  the  enemy  during  the  war.  If  the 
debt  in  the  declaration  mentioned  be  recovered,  the  compact 
is  subverted,  as  respecting  the  paper-money.  And  this  sub 
version  is  to  take  effect  for  the  interest  of  those  men,  whom, 
by  all  laws  human  and  divine,  we  were  obliged  to  consider  as 
enemies  ;  men  who  were  obliged  to  comply  with  the  regula 
tion?  and  requisitions  of  their  king ;  and  our  people  will  have 


372  WIRT'S    LIFE    OF 

been  labouring,  not  for  themselves,  but  for  the  benefit  of  the 
British  subject. 

"  When  a  vessel  is  in  danger  in  a  storm,  those  who  abide 
on  board  of  her,  and  encounter  the  dangers  of  the  sea  to 
save  her,  are  allowed  some  little  compensation  for  salvage, 
for  their  fidelity  and  gallantry  in  endeavouring  to  prevent 
her  loss ;  while  those  who  abandon  her  are  entitled  to 
nothing.  But,  in  opposition  to  this  wise  and  politic  principle, 
we,  who  have  withstood  the  storms  and  dangers,  receive  no 
compensation ;  but  those  who  left  the  political  ship,  and 
joined  those  on  the  other  side  of  the  water  who  wished  to 
sink  her,  and  who  caused  her  to  fight  eight  long  years  for 
her  preservation,  shall  come  in  at  last,  and  get  their  full 
share  of  this  vessel,  and  yet  will  have  been  exonerated  from 
every  charge.  For  whom,  then,  were  the  people  of  America 
engaged  in  war  ?  Not  for  themselves,  I  am  sure — the  prop 
erty  that  they  saved  will  not  be  for  themselves,  but  for  those 
whom  they  had  a  right  to  call  enemies.  I  am  not  willing  to 
ascribe  to  the  meanest  American  the  love  of  money,  or 
desire  of  eluding  the  payment  of  his  debts,  as  the  motive  of 
engaging  in  the  war.  No,  sir.  He  had  nobler  and  better 
views.  But  he  thinks  himself  well  entitled  to  those  debts, 
from  the  laws  and  usages  of  nations,  as  a  compensation  for 
the  injuries  he  has  sustained.  There  is  a  sad  drawback  on 
this  property  saved.  A  national  debt  for  seventeen  years, 
considerable  taxes,  which  were  profusely  laid  during  the 
war  on  lands  and  slaves  ;  and,  since  the  peace,  we  have 
been  loaded  with  a  heavy  taxation.  I  know  that  I  advocate 
this  cause  on  a  very  advantageous  ground,  when  I  speak  of 
the  right  of  salvage.  The  cargo  on  board  the  wrecked 
vessel  belongs  to  the  British,  it  will  have  been  saved  for 
them !  but  the  salvage  is  due  to  us  only.  If  you  take  it  on 


PATRICK     HENRY  373 

the  ground  of  interest — you  may  hold  as  a  pledge — you 
may  retain  for  salvage.  If  you  take  it  on  the  scale  of  the 
common  law,  or  of  national  law — you  may  oppose  dama 
ges  to  debts — retain  the  debts,  to  retribute  and  compensate 
for  the  injuries  they  have  done  you.  I  have  now  got  over 
and  I  trust  established  the  first  point ;  that  is,  tnat  debts  in 
common  wars  are  subject  to  forfeiture,  and  much  more  so  in 
a  revolution  war  like  the  American  war."* 

Having  established  his  first  position,  he  presents  his  next 
point  thus  : — "  My  next  point  is,  that  the  British  debts  being 
so  forfeited  (as  I  conceive)  can  only  be  revived  by  the  treaty ; 
and  unless  they  be  so  revived,  they  are  gone  for  ever.  I 
will  then  consider  how  this  matter  stands  under  the  treaty." 
He  proceeds  then  to  show  by  authority,  the  rules  by  which 
treaties  are  to  be  construed ;  and  demonstrates,  that  a  treaty 
can  confer  no  benefit  unless  it  be  mutually  observed  with 
good  faith ;  that  perfidy,  on  either  side,  is  a  forfeiture  of  all 
its  advantages  ;  that  the  stipulations  of  a  treaty  are  in  the 
nature  of  conditions  precedent ;  that  a  breach  on  either  side 
dissolves  the  covenant  altogether,  and  places  the  parties  on 
the  general  ground  which  they  occupied  before  the  treaty ; 
that  Great  Britain  had  violated  the  treaty,  in  the  moment 
of  its  ratification,  by  carrying  ofT  our  slaves,  and  detaining 
with  an  armed  force  those  posts  of  which  she  haa  stipulated 
the  immediate  surrender ;  that  the  pretence  of  her  having 
acted  thus  as  a  retaliatory  measure  for  the  non-payment  of 

*  These  copious  extracts  from  the  report  on  Mr.  Henry's  first  point 
are  deemed  necessary  to  give  the  reader  an  idea  of  his  mode  of  argu 
mentation,  so  far  as  it  can  be  furnished  by  this  report.  It  would  be 
trespassing  on  the  indulgence  of  the  proprietor  of  the  manuscript, 
(which  has  never  been  published,)  and  trespassing  too,  perhaps,  on  the 
patience  of  that  portion  of  my  readers  who  can  find  no  enjoyment  in 
legal  discussion,  to  pursue  any  farther  this  extended  mode  of  analysis 

32 


374  WIRT'SLIFEOF 

ihe  debts,  was  an  insult  to  common  understanding,  because 
she  began  her  infractions  before  any  experiment  had  been 
made  of  a  recovery  of  the  debts  ;  that  the  notion  of  a  reprisal, 
preceding  any  injury — and  a  retaliation,  in  advance,  of  any 
wrong  on  the  opposite  side,  was  so  far  from  mitigating  her 
offence,  that  it  was  a  daring  insult  on  the  honour  and  good 
faith  of  this  nation  !  Having,  by  a  series  of  authorities  di 
rectly  in  point,  established  the  right  of  the  American  nation 
to  regard  the  treaty  as  abolished  by  any  perfidious  infraction 
of  it,  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain,  he  shows  next,  that  those 
infractions  were  established  by  the  pleadings  in  the  cause ; 
because  the  defendant  by  his  several  pleas  had  specified  those 
infractions,  and  the  plaintiff,  by  demurring  to  the  pleas,  had 
admitted  the  truth  of  their  averments. 

Great  Britain,  then,  as  a  nation,  having  by  her  own  per 
fidy  forfeited  all  right  to  insist  upon  the  treaty,  and  that 
treaty,  as  between  the  nations,  being  annulled,  the  next 
question  was,  whether  any  individual  of  the  British  nation 
could  claim  any  advantage  under  the  treaty?  This  he 
shows  could  not  be  done,  because  in  making  the  treaty,  the 
sovereigns  of  the  two  nations  acted  for  all  the  individuals  of 
their  respective  nations  ;  the  individuals  were  bound  by  all 
the  acts  of  those  sovereigns,  whether  in  making  or  abolish 
ing  a  treaty.  "Here,"  said  he,  "are  two  moral  persons, 
Great  Britain  and  America,  making  a  contract.  The  plain 
tiff  claims  and  the  defendant  defends  under  and  through 
them ;  and  if  either  nation  or  moral  person  has  no  right  to 
benefits  from  such  contract,  individuals  claiming  under 
them  can  have  none.  The  plaintiff  then  claims  under  his 
nation,  but  if  that  nation  have  committed  perfidy  respecting 
the  observance  of  the  compact,  no  right  can  be  carried  there 
from  to  the  plaintiff.  It  puts  him  back  in  the  same  situation 


PATRICK     HE  NR?.  375 

he  was  in  before  the  treaty."  He  shows  the  absurdity  of 
considering  the  tieaty  as  annulled,  in  relation  to  all  the  indi 
viduals,  in  their  collective  character  of  a  nation,  and  yet  as 
in  full  force  for  the  benefit  of  each  individual  separately ; 
for  if  this  plaintiff  had  a  right  to  all  the  beneficial  effects  of 
the  treaty,  every  man  in  England  had  the  same  right ;  and 
he  cites  and  reads  from  Vattel,  a  conclusive  authority,  to 
show,  that  the  conventional  law  of  nations  could  take  its 
effect  only  from  universal  right,  extending  equally  to  all  the 
citizens  or  individuals  of  a  nation.  But  to  say,  that  America 
had  a  right  to  consider  the  treaty  as  void  against  all  the  indi 
viduals  of  the  British  nation,  collectively,  while  each  and 
every  individual  of  that  nation  separately,  could  enforce  it 
upon  her,  was  to  offer  to  the  understanding  a  paradoxical 
absurdity,  as  insulting  to  common  sense,  as  the  conduct  of 
Great  Britain  had  been  to  the  honour  of  the  American  nation. 
He  contended  further  on  this  point,  that  if  the  treaty  had 
been  observed  by  Great  Britain,  and  were  of  consequence  still 
obligatory,  it  did  not  and  could  not  operate  where  moneys 
had  been  actually  paid  into  the  treasury  under  the  laws  of 
the  state ;  for  the  provision  of  the  treaty  is,  "  that  creditors 
on  either  side  should  meet  with  no  lawful  impediment  to  the 
recovery  of  all  bonafide  debts  heretofore  contracted."  The 
defendant,  he  said,  having  paid  the  money  into  the  treasury 
according  to  the  act  of  assembly,  and  the  truth  of  the  pay 
ment  being  admitted  in  the  record,  this  article  of  the  treaty 
could  not  support  the  plaintiff's  claim.  "  To  derive  a  benefit 
from  the  treaty,  the  plaintiff  must  demand  a  bonafide  debt ; 
that  is,  a  debt  bona  fide  due.  The  word  debt  implies  that 
the  thing  is  due ;  for  if  it  be  not  due,  how  can  it  be  a  debt  ? 
To  give  to  these  words,  all  debts  heretofore  contracted,  a 
strictly  literal  sense,  would  be  to  authorize  a  renewed  de 


376  WIRT  S     LIFE    OF 

mand  for  debts  which  had  been  actually  paid  off  to  tl  c  cred 
itor  ;  for  these  were  certainly  within  the  words  of  the  treaty 
being  debts  heretofore  contracted  : — to  avoid  this  absurd  anci 
dishonest  consequence,  you  must  look  at  the  intention  of  the 
thing;  and  the  intention  certainly  was  to  embrace  those 
cases  where  there  had  not  been  a  legal  payment.  I  ask," 
said  he,  "  why  a  payment  made  in  gold  and  silver  is  a  legal 
payment  1  Because  the  coin  of  those  metals  is  made  cur 
rent  by  the  laws  of  this  country.  If  paper  be  made  current  by 
the  same  authority,  why  should  not  a  payment  in  it  be  equally 
valid  ?  The  British  subject  cannot  demand  payment,  be 
cause  I  confront  his  demand  with  a  receipt.  Why  will  a 
receipt  discharge  in  any  instance  ? — because  it  is  founded  on 
the  laws  of  the  country.  A  receipt  given  in  consequence  of 
a  payment  in  coin,  is  a  legal  discharge,  only  because  the 
laws  of  the  country  make  it  so.  I  ask  then,  why  a  receipt 
given  in  consequence  of  a  payment  into  the  treasury,  be  not 
of  equal  validity,  since  it  has  precisely  the  same  foundation  ? 
It  is  expressly  constituted  a  discharge  by  a  legislature 
having  competent  authority.  This  debt,  therefore,  having 
been  legally  paid  by  the  contractor,  was  not  due  from  him  at 
the  time  of  making  the  treaty,  and  therefore  is  not  within  the 
intention  of  that  instrument.  But,  say  the  gentlemen  on 
the  other  side,  the  one  payment  has  the  consent  of  the 
creditor,  and  the  other  has  not :  he  who  paid  coin  has  the 
creditor's  consent  to  the  discharge,  but  he  who  paid  money 
into  the  treasury  wants  it.  Have  we  not  satisfied  this  honour 
able  court,  that  the  governing  power  had  a  right  to  put 
itself  in  the  place  of  the  British  subjects  ?  Having  had  an 
unquestionable  right  to  confiscate,  sequester,  or  modify  those 
debts  as  they  pleased,  they  had  an  equally  indubitable  right 
to  substitute  themselves  in  the  stead  of  the  plaintiff,  other- 


PATRICK     HENRY.  377 

wise  those  authorities  have  been  quoted  in  vain."  He  then 
cites  authorities  to  prove,  that  the  law  of  the  place  governs 
the  contract ;  and  concludes,  that  the  payment  into  the  treas 
ury  having  in  this  instance  been  made  in  consequence  of  a 
law  of  this  commonwealth,  which  was  strictly  consonant 
with  the  laws  of  nations,  and  which  had  declared  that  such 
payment  should  operate  as  a  complete  and  final  dis 
charge,  this  was  not  a  subsisting  debt,  within  the  contem 
plation  of  the  treaty,  and  remained  therefore,  wholly  unaf 
fected  by  it. 

"  The  next  question  was,  whether  this  court  could  take 
notice  of  this  infraction  of  the  treaty,  on  the  part  of  Great 
Britain,  and  found  their  judgment  upon  it.  On  this  question, 
he  observes  that  the  court  were  not  called  upon  to  step  out  of 
their  appropriate  sphere,  in  order  to  invade  the  province  of 
the  jury  by  trying  facts ;  the  facts  were  all  agreed  by  the 
pleadings ;  the  court  were  merely  called  upon  to  say  what 
was  the  law  arising  on  those  facts. 

"  The  existence  or  non-existence  of  the  treaty,  was  a  legal 
inference  from  the  facts  agreed ;  which  the  court  alone  were 
competent  to  decide.  The  plaintiff  himself  had  forced  this 
question  on  the  court,  by  relying  in  his  replication  on  the 
treaty,  as  restoring  his  right  to  recover  this  debt.  He  sets  up 
his  right  under  this  instrument  expressly,  and  then  questions 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  court  to  decide  upon  the  instrument ! 
The  treaty,  quoad  hoc,  is  the  covenant  of  the  parties  in  this 
suit :  the  question  presented  by  the  pleadings  is,  whether  the 
plaintiff  who,  by  that  covenant,  has  taken  upon  himself  the 
performance  of  a  precedent  condition,  can  claim  any  benefit 
under  it,  until  he  shall  show  that  this  precedent  condition  has 
teen  performed.  On  this  question,  said  he,  the  gentleman's 
argument  is,  that  the  court  have  no  power  to  decide  on  the 
3  B  32* 


378  WIRT'S    LIFE     OF 

construction  of  the;  covenant,  which  he  himself  has  brought 
before  them ;  that  they  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  depen- 
dance  or  independence  of  the  stipulations,  or  the  reciprocal 
rights  of  the  parties,  to  claim  under  the  covenant,  without 
showing  a  previous  performance  on  their  respective  parts ! 
He,  on  the  contrary,  insisted  that,  under  the  constitution  of 
the  United  States,  the  question  belonged,  peculiarly  and 
exclusively,  to  the  judicial  department ;  that  by  the  constitu 
tion  it  was  expressly  provided,  that  the  judicial  power  should 
extend  to  all  cases  arising  under  treaties ;  that  the  law  of 
treaties  embraced  the  whole  extent  of  natural  and  national 
law  ;  that  the  constitution  therefore,  by  referring  all  cases 
arising  under  treaties  to  the  judiciary,  had  of  necessity  in 
vested  them  with  the  power  of  appealing  to  that  code  of  laws, 
by  which  alone  the  construction,  the  operation,  the  efficacy, 
the  legal  existence  or  non-existence  of  treaties,  must  be  test 
ed  :  and  by  this  code,  they  were  told  in  the  most  emphatic 
terms,  that  he  who  violates  one  article  of  a  treaty,  releases 
the  other  party  from  the  performance  of  any  part  of  it ;  that 
the  reference  of  all  cases  arising  under  treaties,  to  the  judi 
cial  department,  carried  with  it  every  power  near  or  remote, 
direct  or  collateral,  which  was  essential  to  a  fair  and  just  de 
cision  of  those  cases; — that  in  every  such  case,  the  very 
first  question  was,  is  there  a  treaty  or  not  ? — not  whether 
there  has  been  a  treaty — but  whether  there  is  an  existing, 
obligatory,  operative  treaty.  To  decide  this  question,  the 
court  must  bring  the  facts  to  the  standard  of  the  laws  of  na 
tions  ;  and  by  this  standard  it  had  been  shown,  that  in  the 
case  at  bar,  there  existed  no  treaty  from  which  a  British  sub 
ject  could  claim  any  benefit.  That  if  the  judicial  depart 
ment  had  not  the  power  of  deciding  this  question,  there  was 
no  department  in  the  American  government  which  did  possess 


PATRICK     HENRY.  379 

it :  the  state  governments  have  nothing  to  do  with  it — 
congress  cannot  touch  the  subject — they  may  indeed  declare 
war  for  a  violation ;  but  a  nation  was  not  to  be  forced  to  this 
extremity  on  every  occasion;  there  were  other  modes  of  re 
dress,  short  of  a  declaration  of  war,  to  which  nations  had  a 
right  to  resort ;  and  one  of  them,  as  he  had  shown,  was  the 
power  of  withholding  from  the  perfidious  violator  of  a  treaty, 
those  benefits  which  he  claimed  under  it.  Now  congress 
could  not  by  a  law  declare  a  treaty  void — it  is  not  among 
those  grants  of  power  which  the  constitution  makes  to  them ; 
they  cannot,  therefore,  meddle  with  the  subject  in  any  other 
way  than  by  a  declaration  of  war ;  neither  can  the  presi 
dent  and  senate  touch  it.  They  can  make  treaties ;  but 
the  constitution  gives  them  no  power  to  eocpound  a  treaty ; 
much  less  to  declare  it  void :  they  can  only  unite  with  the 
house  of  representatives,  in  punishing  an  infraction  by  a  dec 
laration  of  war.  To  the  judiciary  alone  then,  belongs  this 
pacific  power  of  withholding  legal  benefits,  claimed  under  a 
treaty,  because  of  the  mala  fides  of  the  party  claiming  them. 
"  Now,  what  will  be  the  situation  of  this  country,  compared 
with  that  of  Great  Britain,  if  you  deny  this  power  to  the 
judiciary  ?  If  you  have  not  observed  the  treaty  with  good 
faith,  and  go  to  England,  claiming  any  benefit  under  the 
treaty,  there  is  a  power  there,  called  royal  prerogative,  which 
will  tell  you — no — go  home  and  act  honestly,  and  you  shall 
have  your  rights  under  the  treaty.  Your  breach  of  faith 
will  not  drive  them  to  a  declaration  of  war — there  is  a  power 
there  which  obtains  redress  by  withholding  your  rights,  until 
you  act  with  good  faith :  but  where  is  the  reciprocal  and 
corresponding  power  in  our  government,  if  it  be  not  in  the 
judiciary?  It  is  nowhere; — we  have  no  redress  short  of  a 
declaration  of  war.  Is  this  one  of  the  precious  fruits  of  the 


380  W  I  R  T   S     L  I  F  E     0  F 

adoption  of  the  federal  constitution,  to  bind  us  hand  and  foot 
with  the  fetters  of  technicality,  and  leave  us  no  way  of  burst- 
ing  them  asunder,  but  by  a  declaration  of  war,  and  the  effu 
sion  of  human  blood  !  It  was  never  intended.  The  wisdom 
and  virtue  which  framed  the  constitution  could  never  have 
intended  to  place  the  country  in  this  humiliating  and  awful 
predicament.  Give  to  this  power  of  deciding  on  treaties, 
which  is  delegated  to  the  federal  judiciary,  a  liberal  construc 
tion — give  them  all  the  incidental  powers  necessary  to  carry 
it  into  effect — open  to  them  the  whole  region  of  natural  and 
national  law,  which  furnishes  the  only  rule  of  expounding 
those  national  compacts,  called  treaties,  and  your  government 
is  unmutilated,  its  measure  of  power  is  full  up  to  the  exigen 
ces  of  the  nation,  and  you  treat  on  equal  terms :  but  upon 
the  opposite  construction,  much  better  would  it  be  that  Amer 
ica  should  have  no  treaties  at  all,  than  that  having  them,  she 
should  want  those  means  of  enforcement  and  redress  which 
all  other  nations  possess." 

Having  thus  established  that  debts  are  subject  to  confisca 
tion  in  common  wars,  and  much  more  so  in  the  war  of  the 
revolution — that  Virginia  was  an  independent  nation,  and  as 
such,-  competent  to  the  exercise  of  this  right  of  eminent 
domain — of  taking  to  herself  the  debts  of  her  enemies — that 
she  had  in  fact  exercised  this  right,  and  that  this  debt  had, 
under  one  of  her  laws  of  that  character,  been  legally  dis 
charged — that  the  treaty  had  no  effect  in  reviving  the  claim, 
because  the  treaty  had  been  annulled  by  the  infractions  of 
it  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain — and  because  if  it  had  not, 
this  was  not  a  subsisting  debt,  within  the  purview  of  the 
treaty — and  finally,  that  the  court's  jurisdiction  extended  to 
every  question  touching  the  consequence  or  annulment  of 


PATRICK     HENRY,  381 

treaties.  He  sa.d  he  had  now  finished  his  own  view  of  the 
subject,  and  should  have  taken  his  seat,  but  for  the  necessity 
of  giving  a  particular  answer  to  the  various  objections  to 
these  principles,  which  had  been  so  ably  urged  by  the  counsel 
for  the  plaintiff.  In  this  part  of  his  subject  he  shows  the 
most  masterly  acuteness,  address,  and  vigour.  A  gentleman 
who  was  present,*  has  described  some  of  the  circumstances 
of  his  manner,  with  a  very  interesting  minuteness  : — "  Mr. 
Henry,"  he  said,  "  had  taken  ample  notes  of  the  arguments 
of  his  adversaries  :  the  people  would  give  him  his  own  time 
to  examine  his  notes,  and  select  the  argument  or  remark 
that  he  meant  to  make  the  subject  of  his  comments,  observ 
ing  in  these  pauses  the  most  profound  silence.  If  the  answer 
which  he  was  about  to  give  was  a  short  one,  he  would  give 
it  without  removing  his  spectacles  from  his  nose — but  if  he 
was  ever  seen  to  give  his  spectacles  a  cant  to  the  top  of  his 
wig,  it  was  a  declaration  of  war,  and  his  adversaries  must 
stand  clear." 

I  propose  to  give  a  few  specimens  only  of  his  mode  of 
answering  the  arguments  of  the  opposing  counsel.  It  had 
been  urged  by  them,  that  the  laws  of  nations  had  declared 
only  the  estate  of  an  alien  enemy  liable  to  confiscation — but 
that  debts  were  mere  rights — clioses  in  action — and  there 
fore  not  of  a  confiscable  character.  His  answer  to  this  is  a 
happy  mixture  of  ridicule  and  argument.  It  is  short,  and  I 
shall  give  it  in  his  own  words  : — 

"  But  a  chose  in  action  is  not  liable  to  forfeiture.  Why  ? 
Because  it  is  too  terrible  to  be  done.  There  is  such  a 
thing  as  straining  at  a  gnat  and  swallowing  a  camel. 

*  The  late  Mr.  Hardin  Burnley. 


382  WIRT   S     LIFE     OF 

Things  much  more  terrible  have  been  done — things,  from 
which  our  nature,  where  it  has  any  pretensions  to  be  pure 
and  correct,  must  recoil  with  horror.  Show  me  those  laws 
which  forfeit  your  life,  attaint  your  blood,  and  beggar  your 
wife  and  children.  Those  sanguinary  and  inhuman  laws, 
to  which  every  thing  valuable  must  yield,  are  to  be  found  in 
the  code  of  that  people,  under  whom  the  plaintiff  now  claims. 
Is  it  so  terrible  to  confiscate  debts,  when  they  forfeit  life, 
and  corrupt  the  very  source  of  your  blood  ?  Though  every 
other  thing  dear  to  humanity  is  forfeitable,  yet  debts,  it 
seems,  must  be  spared  !  Debts  are  too  sacred  to  be  touched  ? 
It  is  a  mercantile  idea  that  worships  Mammon  instead  of 
God.  A  chose  in  action  shall  pass — it  is  without  your  reach. 
What  authority  can  they  adduce  in  support  of  such  conclu 
sive  pre-eminence  for  debts  ?  No  political  or  human  insti 
tution  has  placed  them  above  other  things.  If  debt  be  the 
most  sacred  of  all  earthly  obligations,  I  am  uninformed  from 
whence  it  has  derived  that  eminence.  The  principle  is  to 
be  found  in  the  daybooks,  journals,  and  legers  of  mer 
chants  ;  not  in  the  writings  or  reasonings  of  the  wise  and 
well-informed — the  enlightened  instructers  of  mankind.  Can 
any  gentleman  show  me  any  instance,  where  the  life  or 
property  of  a  gentleman  or  plebeian  in  England  is  forfeited, 
and  yet  his  debts  spared  ?  The  state  can  claim  debts  due 
to  one  guilty  of  high  treason.  Are  they  not  subject  to  con 
fiscation  ?  I  concur  in  that  sound  principle,  that  good  faith 
is  essential  to  the  happiness  of  mankind ;  that  its  want  stops 
all  human  intercourse,  and  renders  us  miserable.  This  prin 
ciple  is  permanent,  and  universal.  Look  to  what  point  of 
the  compass  you  will,  you  will  find  it  pervading  all  nations. 
Who  does  not  set  down  its  sacred  influence  as  the  only  thing 
that  comforts  human  life  ?  Does  the  plaintiff  claim  through 


PATRICK    HENRY.  383 

good  faith  ?  How  does  he  derive  his  claim  ?  Through 
perfidy:  through  a  polluted  channel.  Every  thing  of  that 
kind  would  have  come  better  from  our  side  of  the  question, 
than  from  theirs." 

Mr.  Ronald  had  insisted,  strenuously,  that  there  could  be 
no  forfeiture  or  escheat  without  the  inquest  of  a  jury ;  and 
that  no  act  of  the  legislature  had,  in  fact,  directly  forfeited 
these  debts.  In  answer  to  this,  Mr.  Henry  says,  "  but  the 
gentleman  has  observed,  that  neither  the  declaration  of  the 
legislature,  by  the  act  of  1779,  that  the  British  subjects  had 
become  aliens,  and  their  property  vested  in  the  common 
wealth,  nor  any  other  act  passed  on  the  subject,  could  divest 
the  debts  out  of  the  British  creditors.  It  cannot  be  done 
without  the  solemnity  of  an  inquiry  by  a  jury.  The  debt 
of  A  or  B,  cannot  be  given  to  C,  without  this  solemnity.  Is 
the  little  legality  of  forms,  which  are  necessary  when  you 
speak  of  estates  and  titles,  requisite  on  such  mighty  occasions 
as  these  ?  When  the  fate  of  a  nation  is  concerned,  you  are 
to  speak  the  language  of  nature.  When  your  very  existence 
is  at  stake,  are  you  to  speak  the  technical  language  of  books, 
and  to  be  confined  to  the  limited  rules  of  technical  criticism  ? 
to  those  tricks  and  quirks — those  little  twists  and  twirls 
of  low  chicanery  and  sophistry,  which  are  so  beneficial  to 
professional  men  ?  Alexander  said,  in  the  style  of  that 
mighty  man,  to  the  Thessalians,  '  You  are  free  from  the 
ThebansJ  and  the  debts  they  owed  them  were  thereby  re 
mitted.  Every  other  sovereign  has  the  same  right  to  use 
the  same  natural,  manly,  and  laconic  language ;  not  when 
he  is  victorious  only,  but  in  every  situation,  if  he  be  in  a 
state  of  hostility  with  other  nations.  The  acts  use  not  the 
language  of  technicality,  they  speak  not  of  releases,  dis- 


384  WIRT   S     LIFE     OF 

charges,  and  acquittances  ;  but  they  speak  the  legislative 
will,  in  simple  speech,  to  the  human  understanding — a  style 
better  suited  to  the  purpose,  than  the  turgid  and  pompous 
phraseology  of  many  great  writers." 

Mr.  Ronald,  who  was  a  native  of  Scotland,  and  at  the 
commencement  of  the  revolutionary  war  at  least,  had  been 
suspected  of  being  not  very  warm  in  the  American  cause, 
had  urged  the  objection  to  the  national  competency  of  Vir 
ginia,  at  the  time  of  the  passage  of  those  laws  of  confiscation 
and  forfeiture,  on  which  the  defendant  relied ;  and  in  the 
course  of  his  observations,  had  unfortunately  used  the  remark, 
that  Virginia  was,  at  that  time,  nothing  more  than  a  revolted 
colony.  When  Mr.  Henry  came  to  notice  this  remark,  lie 
gave  his  spectacles  the  war  cant : — "  But  another  observa 
tion,"  said  he,  "  was  made  ;  that  by  the  law  of  nations  we  had 
not  a  right  to  legislate  on  the  subject  of  British  debts — we 
were  not  an  independent  nation — and  I  thought,"  said  he, 
raising  himself  aloft,  while  his  frame  dilated  itself  beyond  the 
ordinary  size,  "that  I  heard  the  word — revolt!"  At  this 
word,  he  turned  upon  Mr.  Ronald  his  piercing  eye,  and  knit 
his  brows  at  him,  with  an  expression  of  indignation  and  con 
tempt,  which  seemed  almost  to  annihilate  him.  It  was  like 
a  stroke  of  lightning.  Mr.  Ronald  shrunk  from  the  wither 
ing  look :  and,  pale  and  breathless,  cast  down  his  eyes, 
"  seeming,"  says  my  informant,  %<  to  be  in  quest  of  an  auger 
hole,  by  which  he  might  drop  through  the  floor,  and  escape 
for  ever  from  mortal  sight."  Mr.  Henry  perceived  his  suf 
fering,  and  his  usual  good-nature  immediately  returned  to 
him.  He  raised  his  eyes  gently  toward  the  court,  and  shaking 
his  head  slowly,  with  an  expression  of  regret,  added,  "  I 
wish  I  had  not  heard  it :  for  although  innocently  meant, 
(and  I  am  sure  that  it  was  so,  from  the  character  of  the 


PATRICK     HENRY.  385 

gentleman  who  mentioned  it,)  yet  the  sound  displeases  me — 
it  is  unpleasant."  Mr.  Ronald  breathed  again,  and  looked  up, 
and  his  generous  adversary  dismissed  the  topic,  to  resume  it 
no  more. 

It  may  give  the  reader  some  idea  of  the  amplitude  of  this 
argument,  when  he  is  told  that  Mr.  Henry  was  engaged 
three  days  successively  in  its  delivery ;  and  some  faint  con 
ception  of  the  enchantment  which  he  threw  over  it,  when  he 
learns  that  although  it  turned  entirely  on  questions  of  law, 
yet  the  audience,  mixed  as  it  was,  seemed  so  far  from  being 
wearied,  that  they  followed  him  throughout  with  increased 
enjoyment.  The  room  continued  full  to  the  last ;  and  such 
was  "  the  listening  silence"  with  which  he  was  heard,  that 
not  a  syllable  that  he  uttered  is  believed  to  have  been  lost. 
When  he  finally  sat  down,  the  concourse  rose  with  a  general 
murmur  of  admiration ;  the  scene  resembled  the  breaking  up 
and  dispersion  of  a  great  theatrical  assembly,  which  had  been 
enjoying  for  the  first  time,  the  exhibition  of  some  new  and 
splendid  drama :  the  speaker  of  the  house  of  delegates  was  at 
length  able  to  command  a  quorum  for  business ;  and  every 
quarter  of  the  city,  and,  at  length,  every  part  of  the  state,  was 
filled  with  the  echoes  of  Mr.  Henry's  eloquent  speech. 

His  practice  during  these  last  years,  of  which  we  are  now 
speaking,  was  confined  pretty  generally  to  cases  of  conse 
quence.  He  did  not  like  the  profession,  and  was  not  willing 
to  embark  in  any  case  for  the  ordinary  fees.  I  have  an  inter 
esting  sketch  of  him,  in  his  professional  character,,  during 
those  years,  from  the  same  elegant  pen,  which  in  a  former 
page,  exhibits  the  parallel  between  him  and  Mr.  Lee  in  1784 : 
it  is  as  follows  :- — 

"  At  the  bar,  Mr.  Henry  was  eminently  successful.  When 
I  saw  him  there,  he  must,  from  the  course  of  his  life,  which 
3  C  33 


386  WIRT'S     LIFE     OF 

had  been  chiefly  political,  have  become  somewhat  rusty  in 
the  learning  of  his  profession :  yet  I  considered  him  as  a 
good  lawyer :  he  seemed  to  be  well  acquainted  with  the  rules 
and  canons  of  property.  He  would  not,  indeed,  undergo 
the  drudgery  necessary  for  complicated  business ;  yet  I  am 
told,  that  in  the  British  debt  cause,  he  astonished  the  public 
not  less  by  the  matter  than  the  manner  of  his  speech.  It 
was  however  as  a  criminal  lawyer  that  his  eloquence  had 
the  fairest  scope,  and  in  that  character  I  have  seen  him.  He 
was  perfect  master  of  the  passions  of  his  auditory,  whether 
in  the  tragic  or  comic  line.  The  tones  of  his  voice,  to  say 
nothing  of  his  matter  and  gesture,  were  insinuated  into  the 
feelings  of  his  hearers,  in  a  manner  that  baffles  all  descrip 
tion.  It  seemed  to  operate  by  mere  sympathy;  and  by  his 
tones  alone,  it  seemed  to  me,  that  he  could  make  you  cry  or 
laugh  at  pleasure.  I  will  endeavour  to  give  you  some  ac 
count  of  this  tragic  and  comic  effect  in  two  instances,  which 
I  witnessed. 

"  About  the  year  1792,  one  Holland  killed  a  young  man 
in  Botetcurt.  The  young  man  was  popular,  and  lived,  I 
think,  with  Mr.  King,  a  wealthy  merchant  in  Fincastle,  who 
employed  Mr.  John  Brackenridge  to  assist  in  the  prosecution 
of  Holland.  This  Holland  had  gone  up  from  the  county  of 
Louisa  as  a  schoolmaster,  but  had  turned  out  badly,  and  was 
unpopular.  The  killing  was  in  the  night,  and  was  generally 
believed  to  be  murder.  He  was  the  son  of  one  Doctor  Hol 
land,  who  was  yet  living  in  Louisa,  and  had  been  one  of 
Mr.  Henry's  juvenile  friends  and  acquaintances.  It  was 
chiefly  at  the  instance  of  the  father,  and  for  a  very  moderate 
fee,  that  Mr.  Henry  undertook  to  go  out  to  the  district  court 
of  Greenbrier,  to  defend  the  prisoner.  Such  were  the  pre 
judices  there,  that  the  people  had  openly  and  repeatedly  de- 


PATRICK     HENRY.  387 

clared  that  even  Patrick  Henry  need  not  come  to  defend 
Holland,  unless  he  brought  a  jury  with  him.  On  the  day 
of  trial,  the  court-house  was  crowded.  I  did  not  move  from 
my  seat  for  fourteen  hours  ;  and  had  no  wish  to  do  so.  The 
examination  of  the  witnesses  took  up  great  part  of  the  time, 
and  the  lawyers  were  probably  exhausted.  Brackenridge 
was  eloquent ;  but  Henry  left  no  dry  eye  in  the  court-house. 
The  case  I  believe  was  murder ;  though,  possibly,  man 
slaughter  only.  Mr.  Henry  laid  hold  of  this  possibility  with 
such  effect  as  to  make  all  forget  that  Holland  had  killed  the 
storekeeper  at  all ;  and  presented  the  deplorable  case  of  the 
jury  killing  Holland,  an  innocent  man.  By  that  force  of 
description  which  he  possessed  in  so  wonderful  a  degree,  he 
exhibited,  as  it  were,  at  the  clerk's  table,  old  Holland  and  his 
wife,  who  were  then  in  Louisa;  but  the  drawing  was  so 
powerful,  and  so  true  to  nature,  that  we  seemed  to  see  them 
before  us,  and  to  hear  them  asking  of  the  jury,  '  Where  is 
our  son  ?  What  have  you  done  with  him  V  All  this  was 
done  in  a  manner  so  solemn  and  touching,  and  a  tone  so 
irresistible,  that  it  was  impossible  for  the  stoutest  heart  not  to 
take  sides  with  the  criminal :  as  for  the  jury,  they  lost  sight 
of  the  murder  they  were  trying,  and  wept  most  profusely, 
with  old  Holland  and  his  wife,  whom  Mr.  Henry  painted, 
and  perhaps  proved  to  be  very  respectable.  During  the  ex 
amination  of  the  evidence,  the  bloody  clothes  had  been  brought 
in.  Mr.  Henry  objected  to  their  exhibition,  and  applied 
most  forcibly  and  pathetically  Antony's  remark  on  Cesar's 
wounds,  on  those  dumb  mouths  which  would  raise  the 
stones  of  Rome  to  mutiny.  He  urged  that  this  sight  would 
totally  deprive  the  jury  of  their  judgment,  which  would  be 
merged  in  their  feelings.  The  court  were  divided,  and  the 
motion  fell.  The  result  of  the  trial  was,  that  after  the  re- 


388  WIRT'S    LIFE     OF 

rirement  of  a  half  or  quarter  of  an  hour,  the  jury  brought 
in  a  verdict  of  not  guilty ;  but  on  being  reminded  by  the 
court  that  they  might  find  a  degree  of  homicide,  inferior 
to  murder,  they  altered  their  verdict  to  guilty  of  man 
slaughter." 

"  Mr.  Henry  was  not  less  successful  in  the  comic  line, 
when  it  became  necessary  to  resort  to  it.  You  have  no 
doubt  heard  how  he  defeated  John  Hook,  by  raising  the  cry 
of  beef  against  him.  I  will  give  you  a  similar  instance.  In 
the  year  1792,  there  were  many  suits  on  the  south  side  of 
James  river,  for  inflicting  Lynch's  law.*  A  verdict  of  five 
hundred  pounds  had  been  given  in  Prince  Edward  district 
court,  in  a  case  of  this  kind.  This  alarmed  the  defendant  in 
the  next  case,  who  employed  Mr.  Henry  to  defend  him. 
The  case  was,  that  a  wagoner  and  the  plaintiff  were  travel 
ling  to  Richmond  together,  when  the  wagoner  knocked 
down  a  turkey,  and  put  it  into  his  wagon.  Complaint  was 
made  to  the  defendant,  a  justice  of  the  peace ;  both  the  par 
ties  were  taken  up,  and  the  wagoner  agreed  to  take  a 
whipping  rather  than  be  sent  to  jail :  but  the  plaintiff  re 
fused  :  the  justice,  however,  gave  him  also  a  small  flagella 
tion  ;  and  for  this  the  suit  was  brought.  The  plaintiff,  by 
way  of  taking  off  the  force  of  the  defence,  insisted  that  he 
was  wholly  innocent  of  the  act  committed.  Mr.  Henry  on 
the  contrary  contended,  that  he  was  a  party  present,  aiding 
and  assisting.  In  the  course  of  his  remarks,  he  expressed 
himself  thus : — '  But,  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  the  plaintiff 

*  Thirty-nine  lashes,  inflicted  without  trial  or  law,  on  mere  suspicion 
of  guilt,  which  could  not  be  regularly  proved.  This  lawless  practice, 
which,  sometimes  by  the  order  of  a  magistrate,  sometimes  without, 
prevailed  extensively  in  the  upper  counties  on  James  river,  took  its 
name  from  the  gentleman  who  set  the  first  example  of  it. 


PATRICK    HENRY.  389 

tells  you  he  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  turkey — I  dare  say, 
gentlemen,  not  until  it  was  roasted?  &c.  He  pronounced 
this  word  roasted  with  such  rotundity  of  voice,  such  a  ludi 
crous  whirl  of  the  tongue,  and  in  a  manner  so  indescribably 
comical,  that  it  threw  every  one  into  a  fit  of  laughter  at  the 
plaintiff,  who  stood  up  in  the  place  usually  allotted  to 
criminals ;  and  the  defendant  was  let  off,  with  little  or  no 
damages." 

The  case  of  John  Hook,  to  which  my  correspondent  al 
ludes,  is  worthy  of  insertion.  Hook  was  a  Scotchman,  a  man 
of  wealth,  and  suspected  of  being  unfriendly  to  the  American 
cause.  During  the  distresses  of  the  American  army,  conse 
quent  on  the  joint  invasion  of  Cornwallis  and  Phillips  in 
1781,  a  Mr.  Venable,  an  army  commissary  had  taken  two 
of  Hook's  steers  for  the  use  of  the  troops.  The  act  had  not 
been  strictly  legal ;  and  on  the  establishment  of  peace,  Hook, 
under  the  advice  of  Mr.  Cowan,  a  gentleman  of  some  dis 
tinction  in  the  law,  thought  proper  to  bring  an  action  of  tres 
pass  against  Mr.  Venable,  in  the  district  court  of  New  Lon 
don.  Mr.  Henry  appeared  for  the  defendant,  and  is  said  to 
have  disported  himself  in  this  cause  to  the  infinite  enjoy 
ment  of  his  hearers,  the  unfortunate  Hook  always  excepted. 
After  Mr.  Henry  became  animated  in  the  cause,  says  a  cor 
respondent,*  he  appeared  to  have  complete  control  over  the 
passions  of  his  audience  :  at  one  time  he  excited  their  indig 
nation  against  Hook :  vengeance  was  visible  in  every  coun 
tenance  :  again,  when  he  chose  to  relax  and  ridicule  him, 
the  whole  audience  was*  in  a  roar  of  laughter.  He  painted 
the  distresses  of  the  American  army,  exposed  almost  naked 
to  the  rigour  of  a  winter's  sky,  and  marking  the  frozen 

*  Judge  Stuart. 
33* 


390  WIRT'S  LIFE  OF 

ground  over  which  they  marched,  with  the  blood  of  their 
unshod  feet — "where  was  the  man,"  he  said,  "who  had  an 
American  heart  in  his  bosom,  who  would  not  have  thrown 
open  his  fields,  his  barns,  his  cellars,  the  doors  of  his  house, 
the  portals  of  his  breast,  to  have  received  with  open  arms, 
the  meanest  soldier  in  that  little  band  of  famished  patriots  ? 
Where  is  the  man  ? — There  he  stands — but  whether  the 
heart  of  an  American  beats  in  his  bosom,  you,  gentlemen, 
are  to  judge."  He  then  carried  the  jury,  by  the  powers  of  his 
imagination,  to  the  plains  around  York,  the  surrender  of 
which  had  followed  shortly  after  the  act  complained  of:  he 
depicted  the  surrender  in  the  most  glowing  and  noble  colours 
of  his  eloquence — the  audience  saw  before  their  eyes  the 
humiliation  and  dejection  of  the  British,  as  they  marched  out 
of  their  trenches — they  saw  the  triumph  which  lighted  up 
every  patriot  face,  and  heard  the  shouts  of  victory,  and  the 
cry  of  Washington  and  liberty,  as  it  rung  and  echoed  through 
the  American  ranks,  and  was  reverberated  from  the  hills  and 
shores  of  the  neighbouring  river — "but  hark!  what  notes 
of  discord  are  these  which  disturb  the  general  joy,  and  silence 
the  acclamations  of  victory — they  are  the  notes  of  John 
Hook,  hoarsely  bawling  through  the  American  camp,  beef! 
beef!  beef!" 

The  whole  audience  were  convulsed  :  a  particular  incident 
will  give  a  better  idea  of  the  effect,  than  any  general  descrip 
tion.  The  clerk  of  the  court,  unable  to  command  himself, 
and  unwilling  to  commit  any  breach  of  decorum  in  his 
place,  rushed  out  of  the  court-house,  and  threw  himself  on 
the  grass,  in  the  most  violent  paroxysm  of  laughter,  where 
he  was  rolling,  when  Hook,  with  very  different  feelings,  came 
out  for  relief  into  the  yard  also.  "  Jemmy  Steptoe,"  said  he 
to  the  clerk,  "what  the  devil  ails  ye,  mon?"  Mr.  Steptoe 


PATRICK     HENRY.  391 

was  only  able  to  say,  that  he  could  not  help  it.  "  Never 
mind  ye,"  said  Hook,  "wait  till  Billy  Cowan  gets  up :  he'll 
show  him  the  la'."  Mr.  Cowan,  however,  was  so  completely 
overwhelmed  by  the  torrent  which  bore  upon  his  client,  that 
when  he  rose  to  reply  to  Mr.  Henry,  he  was  scarcely  able  to 
make  an  intelligible  or  audible  remark.  The  cause  was  de 
cided  almost  by  acclamation.  The  jury  retired  for  form  sake, 
and  instantly  returned  with  a  verdict  for  the  defendant.  Nor 
did  the  effect  of  Mr.  Henry's  speech  stop  here.  The  people 
were  so  highly  excited  by  the  tory  audacity  of  such  a  suit, 
that  Hook  began  to  hear  around  him  a  cry  more  terrible  than 
that  of  beef :  it  was  the  cry  of  tar  and  feathers :  from  the 
application  of  which  it  is  said,  that  nothing  saved  him  but  a 
precipitate  flight  and  the  speed  of  his  horse. 

I  have  not  attempted,  in  the  course  of  these  sketches,  to 
follow  Mr.  Henry  through  his  professional  career.  I  have 
no  materials  to  justify  such  an  attempt.  It  has  been,  indeed, 
stated  to  me  in  general,  that  he  appeared  in  such  and  such 
a  case,  and  that  he  shone  with  great  lustre  ;  but  neither  his 
speeches  in  those  cases,  nor  any  point  of  his  argument,  nor 
even  any  brilliant  passage  has  been  communicated,  so  that 
the  sketch  that  could  be  given  of  them  must  be  either  con 
fined  to  a  meager  catalogue  of  the  causes,  or  the  canvass 
must  be  filled  up  by  my  own  fancy,  which  would  at  once  be 
an  act  of  injustice  to  Mr.  Henry,  and  a  departure  from  that 
historical  veracity,  which  it  has  been  my  anxious  study,  in 
every  instance,  to  observe. 

I  have  been  told,  for  example,  that  in  the  year  1774  Mr. 
Henry  appeared  at  the  bar  of  the  general  court,  in  defence 
of  a  married  man,  by  the  name  of  Henry  Bullard,  indicted 
for  the  murder  of  a  beautiful  girl,  who  lived  in  his  house,  to 
whom  he  had  unfortunately  become  attached,  and  whom  in  a 


392  WIRT'SLIFEOF 

moment  of  frantic  despair,  he  sacrificed  to  his  hopeless  pas 
sion.  The  defence  is  said  to  have  been  placed  on  the  ground 
of  insanity ;  and  it  is  easy  to  conceive,  in  general,  the  figure 
which  Mr.  Henry  must  have  made  in  such  a  course.  Those 
pathetic  powers  of  eloquence,  in  which  he  was  so  pre-emi 
nently  great,  had  ample  scope  for  their  exercise  in  this  case ; 
and  we  can  credit,  without  difficulty,  the  assertion,  that  he 
deluged  the  house  with  tears,  and  effected  the  acquittal  of  his 
client.  But  this  is  all  that  we  know  of  the  case.* 

So  also  I  learn  that,  on  some  occasion  after  the  war,  he 
appeared  at  the  bar  of  the  house  of  delegates,  in  support  of 
a  petition  of  the  officers  of  the  Virginia  line,  who  sought  to 
be  placed  on  the  footing  of  those  who  had  been  taken  on 
continental  establishment :  and  that,  after  having  depicted 
their  services  and  their  sufferings,  in  colours  which  filled 
every  heart  with  sympathy  and  gratitude,  he  dropped  on  his 
knees,  at  the  bar  of  the  house,  and  presented  such  an  appeal 
as  might  almost  have  softened  rocks,  and  bent  the  knotted 
oak.  Yet  no  vestige  of  this  splendid  speech  remains  ;  nor 
have  I  been  able,  after  the  most  diligent  inquiries,  to  ascer 
tain  the  year  in  which  it  occurred  ;  similar  petitions  having 
been  presented  for  several  successive  sessions. 

It  was  in  the  year  1794,  that  he  bade  a  final  adieu  to  his 
profession,  and  retired  to  the  bosom  of  his  own  family.  He 
retired,  loaded  with  honours,  public  and  professional :  and 
carried  with  him  the  admiration,  the  gratitude,  the  confi- 

*  If  this  is  the  case  of  Henry  Bullard,  who  was  indicted  at  the  April 
term  of  1774,  for  the  murder  of  Mary  Pinner,  this  honour  claimed  by 
my  correspondent  for  Mr.  Henry  is  not  due ;  for  the  records  of  the 
general  court  show,  that  the  indictment,  although  originally  drawn 
for  the  charge  of  murder,  was  reduced  to  manslaughter  by  the  grand 
jury  ;  of  which  offence  the  prisoner  was  convicted.  There  is,  proba 
bly,  some  mistake  in  the  name. 


PATRICK     HENRY.  393 

dence,  and  the  love  of  his  country.  No  man  had  ever  passed 
through  so  long  a  life  of  public  service,  with  a  reputation 
more  perfectly  unspotted.  Nor  had  Mr.  Henry,  on  any  oc 
casion,  sought  security  from  censure,  by  that  kind  of  pru 
dent  silence  and  temporizing  neutrality,  which  politicians 
so  frequently  observe.  On  the  contrary,  his  course  had  been 
uniformly  active,  bold,  intrepid,  and  independent.  On  every 
great  subject  of  public  interest,  the  part  which  he  had  taken 
was  open,  decided,  manly;  his  country  saw  his  motives, 
heard  his  reasons,  approved  his  conduct,  rested  upon  his 
virtue  and  his  vigour;  and  contemplated  with  amazement, 
the  evolution  and  unremitted  display  of  his  transcendent 
talents.  For  more  than  thirty  years  he  had  now  stood  be 
fore  that  country — open  to  the  scrutiny  and  the  censure  of 
the  invidious — yet  he  retired,  not  only  without  spot  or 
blemish,  but  with  all  his  laurels  blooming  full  and  fresh  upon 
him — followed  by  the  blessings  of  his  almost  adoring  coun 
trymen,  and  cheered  by  that  most  exquisite  of  all  earthly 
possessions — the  consciousness  of  having,  in  deed  and  in 
truth,  played  well  his  part.  He  had  now,  loo,  become  dis 
embarrassed  of  debt ;  his  fortune  was  affluent ;  and  he  en 
joyed  in  his  retirement,  that  ease  and  dignity,  which  no  man 
ever  more  richly  deserved. 

3D 


SECTION  X. 

WHATEVER  difference  of  opinion  may  exist  as  to  other 
parts  of  his  character,  in  this  the  concurrence  is  universal : 
that  there  never  was  a  man  better  constituted  than  Mr. 
Henry  to  enjoy  and  adorn  the  retirement  on  which  he  had 
now  entered.  Nothing  can  be  more  amiable,  nothing  more 
interesting  and  attaching,  than  those  pictures  which  have 
been  furnished  from  every  quarter,  without  one  dissentient 
stroke  of  the  pencil,  of  this  great  and  virtuous  man  in  the 
bosom  of  private  life.  Mr.  Jefferson  says,  that  "  he  was  the 
best-humoured  companion  in  the  world."  His  disposition 
was  indeed  all  sweetness — his  affections  were  warm,  kind, 
and  social — his  patience  invincible — his  temper  ever  un 
clouded,  cheerful,  and  serene — his  manners  plain,  open, 
familiar,  and  simple — his  conversation  easy,  ingenuous,  and 
unaffected,  full  of  entertainment,  full  of  instruction,  and  irra 
diated  with  all  those  light  and  softer  graces,  which  his  genius 
threw,  without  effort,  over  the  most  common  subjects.  It  is 
said  that  there  stood  in  the  court,  before  his  door,  a  large 
walnut-tree,  under  whose  shade  it  was  his  delight  to  pass  his 
summer  evenings,  surrounded  by  his  affectionate  and  happy 
family,  and  by  a  circle  of  neighbours  who  loved  him  almost 
to  idolatry.  Here  he  would  disport  himself  with  all  the  care 
less  gayety  of  infancy.  Here,  too,  he  would  sometimes  warm 
the  bosoms  of  the  old,  and  strike  fire  from  the  eyes  of  his 
younger  hearers,  by  recounting  the  tales  of  other  times ;  by 


PATRICK    HENRY.  395 

sketching  with  the  boldness  of  a  master's  hand,  those  great 
historic  incidents  in  which  he  had  borne  a  part ;  and  by 
drawing  to  the  life,  and  placing  before  his  audience,  in 
colours  as  fresh  and  strong  as  those  of  nature,  the  many 
illustrious  men  in  every  quarter  of  the  continent,  with  whom 
he  had  acted  a  part  on  the  public  stage.  Here,  too,  he  would 
occasionally  discourse  with  all  the  wisdom  and  all  the  elo 
quence  of  a  Grecian  sage,  of  the  various  duties  and  offices  of 
life ;  and  pour  forth  those  lessons  of  practical  utility,  with 
which  long  experience  and  observation  had  stored  his  mind. 
Many  were  the  visiters  from  a  distance,  old  and  young,  who 
came  on  a  kind  of  pious  pilgrimage,  to  the  retreat  of  the 
veteran  patriot,  and  found  him  thus  delightfully  and  usefully 
employed — the  old  to  gaze  upon  him  with  long-remembered 
affection,  and  ancient  gratitude — the  young,  the  ardent,  and 
the  emulous,  to  behold  and  admire,  with  swimming  eyes 
the  champion  of  other  days,  and  to  look  with  a  sigh  of  gen 
erous  regret,  upon  that  height  of  glory  which  they  could 
never  hope  to  reach.  Blessed  be  the  shade  of  that  vener 
able  tree — ever  hallowed  the  spot  which  his  genius  has 
consecrated ! 

Mr.  Henry  received  these  visits  with  all  his  characteristic 
plainness  and  modesty ;  and  never  failed  to  reward  the  fa 
tigue  of  the  journey  by  the  warmest  welcome,  and  by  the 
unceremonious  and  fascinating  familiarity,  with  which  he 
would  at  once  enter  into  conversation  with  his  new  guests, 
and  cause  them  to  forget  that  they  were  strangers,  or  abroad. 
Nor*must  the  reader  suppose  that  in  these  conversations  he 
assumed  any  airs  of  superiority  ;  much  less  that  his  conver 
sation  was,  as  in  some  of  our  conspicuous  men,  a  continued, 
imperious,  and  didactic  lecture.  On  the  contrary,  he  carried 
into  private  life,  all  those  principles  of  equality  which  had 


396  WIRT'S     LIFE     OF 

governed  him  in  public.  That  ascendency,  indeed,  which 
proceeded  from  the  superior  energy  of  his  mind,  and  the 
weight  of  his  character,  would  manifest  itself  unavoidably, 
in  the  deference  of  his  companions  ;  but  there  was  nothing 
in  his  manner  which  would  have  ever  reminded  them  of  it. 
On  the  contrary,  it  seemed  to  be  his  study  to  cause  them  to 
forget  it,  and  to  decoy  them  into  a  free  and  equal  interchange 
of  thought.  If  he  took  the  lead  in  conversation,  it  was  not 
because  he  sought  it ;  but  because  it  was  forced  upon  him, 
by  that  silent  delight  with  which  he  perceived  that  his  com 
pany  preferred  to  listen  to  him. 

But  it  was  in  the  bosom  of  his  own  family,  where  the  eye 
of  every  visiter  and  even  every  neighbour  was  shut  out — 
where  neither  the  love  of  fame,  nor  the  fear  of  censure,  could 
be  suspected  of  throwing  a  false  light  upon  his  character — 
it  was  in  that  very  scene,  in  which  it  has  been  said  that  "  no 
man  is  a  hero,"  that  Mr.  Henry's  heroism  shone  with  the 
most  engaging  beauty.  It  was  to  his  wife,  to  his  children, 
to  his  servants,  that  his  true  character  was  best  known  :  to 
this  grateful,  devoted,  happy  circle,  were  best  known  the 
patient  and  tender  forbearance,  the  kind  indulgence,  the 
forgiving  mildness,  and  sweetness  of  his  spirit,  those  pure 
and  warm  affections,  which  were  always  looking  out  for  the 
means  of  improving  their  felicity,  and  that  watchful  prudence 
and  circumspection,  which  guarded  them  from  harm.  What 
can  be  more  amiable  than  the  playful  tenderness  with  which 
he  joined  in  the  sports  of  his  little  children,  and  the  bound 
less  indulgence  with  which  he  received  and  returned  their  ca 
resses  ?  "  His  visitors,"  says  one  of  my  correspondents,  "have 
not  unfrequently  caught  him  lying  on  the  floor,  with  a  group 
of  these  little  ones,  climbing  over  him  in  every  direction,  or 
dancing  around  him,  with  obstreperous  mirth,  to  the  rarie 


PATRICK     HENRY.  397 

of  his  violin,  while  the  only  contest  seemed  to  be  who  should 
make  the  most  noise."  If  there  be  any  bachelor  so  cold  of 
heart  as  to  be  offended  at  this  anecdote,  I  can  only  remind 
him  of  the  remark  of  the  great  Agesilaus  to  the  friend  who 
found  him  riding  on  a  stick  among  his  children :  "  Don't 
mention  it,  till  you  are  yourself  a  father" 

Such  were  the  scenes  of  domestic  and  social  bliss,  such 
the  delicious  tranquillity,  in  which  Mr.  Henry  passed  the  first 
years  of  his  retirement.  Yet  this  retreat,  which  so  well  de 
served  to  have  been  considered  as  sacred,  was  doomed  in  a 
few  years  to  be  disturbed  by  the  bickerings  of  political  party. 

Since  Mr.  Henry's  retirement  from  public  life,  new  parties 
had  arisen  in  the  United  States,  whose  animosities  had  been 
carried  to  an  alarming  height.  The  federalists,  who  sup 
ported  the  measures  of  the  new  government  throughout, 
were  accused  by  their  adversaries  of  a  disposition  to  strain 
the  constructive  powers  of  the  constitution  to  their  highest 
possible  pitch ;  of  a  secret  wish  to  convert  the  government 
into  a  substantial  monarchy  at  least ;  to  which  purpose,  the 
assumption  of  state  debts,  the  establishment  of  the  funding 
system,  and  of  the  national  bank,  the  alarming  increase  of 
the  public  debt,  the  imposition  of  a  heavy  load  of  internal 
taxes,  the  establishment  of  an  army  and  a  navy,  with  all 
their  consequences  of  favouritism  and  extensive  executive 
patronage,  were  alleged  to  have  been  introduced.  They 
were  branded  with  the  name  of  aristocrats,  a  name  of  re 
proach  borrowed  from  the  parties  in  France  ;  and  were 
charged  with  being  inimical  to  the  cause  of  human  liberty, 
as  was  said  to  be  proved  by  their  hostility  to  the  progress  of 
the  French  revolution,  as  well  as  by  the  alarming  character  of 
those  measures  which  they  were  pushing  forward  in  Amer 
ica.  They  were  suspected  and  accused  of  a  preference  for 


335  WIRT'S    LIFE     OF 

a  government  of  ranks  and  orders,  and  a  secret  love  of  titles 
of  nobility;  of  which  it  was  said,  one  of  their  principal 
leaders  had  furnished  a  decisive  proof,  so  far  as  he  was  con 
cerned,  by  having  proposed  the  introduction  of  titles  in  the 
continental  convention  which  had  framed  the  constitution. 
The  party  which  urged  these  charges,  took  the  name  of  re 
publicans  and  democrats ;  declared  themselves  the  friends 
of  liberty  and  the  people,  and  the  firm  advocates  of  a  govern 
ment  of  the  people  by  the  people.  They  were  devoted,  with 
enthusiasm,  to  the  cause  of  liberty  in  France  :  considered 
man,  as  the  only  title  of  nobility  which  ought  to  be  admitted, 
and  his  freedom  and  happiness  as  the  sole  objects  of  govern 
ment  ;  this  they  contended,  was  the  principle  on  which  the 
American  revolution  had  turned ;  that  the  great  objects  of 
the  revolution  could  be  no  otherwise  attained,  than  by  a  sim 
ple,  pure,  economical,  and  chaste  administration  of  the  federal 
government ;  and  by  restricting  the  several  departments  under 
the  new  constitution,  to  the  express  letter  of  the  powers  as 
signed  to  them  by  that  instrument. 

The  federalists  on  the  other  hand,  denied  and  repelled, 
with  great  acrimony  and  vehemence,  the  charges  which  had 
been  urged  against  them  by  their  adversaries.  They  con 
tended  that  the  measures  complained  of  were  warranted 
by  the  constitution,  and  were  necessary  to  give  to  the  federal 
government  the  effect  which  was  intended  by  its  adoption. 
They  insisted  that  they  were  simply  the  friends  of  order  and 
good  government ;  and  in  their  turn,  branded  their  adver 
saries  with  the  name  of  Jacobins,  who  having  caught  the 
mania  from  France,  were  for  overturning  all  government, 
and  throwing  every  thing  into  anarchy  and  uproar,  in  the 
hope  of  rising  themselves  to  the  top  of  the  chaos.  They 
alleged  that  the  opposition  was  formed  of  the  dregs  of  the 


PATRICK   HENRY.  3f»9 

American  people,  headed  and  goaded  on  by  a  few  design 
ing  men,  and  fermented  into  faction  by  the  revolutionary 
elements  thrown  among  them  from  abroad,  in  the  shape  of 
French  and  Irish  emigrants  and  convicts.  They  insisted, 
that  it  was  indispensably  necessary  to  the  peace  and  order 
of  the  American  nation,  that  those  foreign  incendiaries 
should  be  driven  out  from  the  land,  and  that  the  licentious 
fury  of  our  own  populace  should  also  be  bridled.  Under 
this  impression,  were  passed  those  alien  and  sedition  laws 
which  are  supposed  to  have  put  an  end  to  the  federal 
power  in  America. 

It  is  not  my  function  to  decide  between  these  parties;  nor 
do  I  feel  myself  qualified  for  such  an  office.  I  have  lived 
too  near  the  times,  and  am  conscious  of  having  been  too 
strongly  excited  by  the  feelings  of  the  day,  to  place  myself 
in  the  chair  of  the  arbiter.  It  would,  indeed,  be  no  difficult 
task  to  present,  under  the  engaging  air  of  historic  candour, 
the  arguments  on  one  side,  in  an  attitude  so  bold  and  com 
manding,  and  to  exhibit  those  on  the  other  under  a  form 
so  faint  and  shadowy,  as  to  beguile  the  reader  into  the 
adoption  of  my  own  opinions.  But  this  would  be  unjust 
to  the  opposite  party,  and  a  disingenuous  abuse  of  the 
confidence  of  the  reader.  Let  us  then  remit  the  question 
to  the  historian  of  future  ages ;  who,  if  the  particular 
memory  of  the  past  times  shall  not  be  lost  in  those  great 
events  which  seem  preparing  for  the  nation,  will  probably 
decide,  that,  as  in  most  family  quarrels,  both  parties  have 
been  somewhat  in  the  wrong. 

For  my  purpose,  it  is  sufficient  to  state  the  rise  and  exist 
ence  of  those  parties,  and  the  fact  that  their  collision  had 
convulsed  the  whole  society.  Mr.  Henry,  although  removed 
from  the  immediate  scene  of  contention,  was  still  an  object 


400  WIRT'S    LIFE    OF 

of  too  much  consequence  to  be  viewed  with  indifference. 
He  had  a  weight  of  character  which  gave  to  his  opinions  a 
preponderating  influence  on  every  subject,  and  both  parties 
were  equally  anxious  to  gain  him  to  their  cause.  His 
expressions  were  watched  with  the  most  anxious  attention, 
and  it  was  not  long  before  an  alarm  of  his  defection  from 
the  popular  cause  was  given.  The  first  occasion  of  it  I 
discover  was  the  treaty  of  1794,  with  Great  Britain,  com 
monly  known  by  the  name  of  Jay's  treaty. 

It  will  be  remembered  by  the  reader  that  Mr.  Henry  had 
objected  to  the  constitution,  onjlie  ground  thaUjj^ave  to  the 
jTresident  and  senate  the  whole  treaty-making  power.  This 
construction  of  the  instrument  wa^iiulrdemed  in  the  state 
convention;  but  on  the  contrary,  was  at  least  impliedly  ad 
mitted  ;  and  the  provision  was  vindicated  on  the  ground  that 
the  power  of  treating  could  be  no  where  more  safely  and 
properly  lodged.  When  therefore  the  republican  leaders  in 
the  house  of  representatives  claimed  a  right  to  participate  in 
the  ratification  of  Jay's  treaty,  Mr.  Henry  considered  them 
as  inconsistent  with  themselves,  and  as  departing  from  their 
own  construction  of  the  constitution.  This  charge  and  the 
defence  have  both  been  made  known  to  me  by  the  follow 
ing  letter  from  Mr.  Henry  to  his  daughter,  Mrs.  Aylett: 

"Red  Hill,  August  20th,  1796. 
"My  dear  Betsy, 

"Mr.  William  Aylett's  arrival  here  with  your  letter  gave 
me  the  pleasure  of  hearing  of  your  welfare,  and  to  hear  of 
that  is  highly  gratifying  to  me,  as  I  so  seldom  see  you,"  &c. 
[The  rest  of  this  paragraph  relates  to  family  affairs.] 

"As  to  the  reports  you  have  heard  of  my  changing  sides 
in  politics,  I  can  only  say,  they  are  not  true.  I  am  too  old 


PATRICK     HENRY.  401 

to  exchange  my  former  opinions,  which  have  grown  up  into 
fixed  habits  of  thinking.  True  it  is,  I  have  condemned  the 
conduct  of  our  members  in  congress,  because,  in  refusing  to 
raise  money  for  the  purposes  of  the  British  treaty,  they,  in 
effect,  would  have  surrendered  our  country  bound,  hand  and 
foot,  to  the  power  of  the  British  nation.  This  must  have 
been  the  consequence,  I  think ;  but  the  reasons  for  thinking 
so  are  too  tedious  to  trouble  you  with.  The  treaty  is,  in  my 
opinion,  a  very  bad  one  indeed.  But  what  must  I  think  of 
those  men,  whom  I  myself  warned  of  thq  danger  of  giving 
the  power  of  making  laws  by  means  of  treaty,  to  the  presi 
dent  and  senate,  when  I  see  these  same  men  denying  the 
existence  of  that  power,  which  they  insisted,  in  our  conven 
tion,  ought  properly  to  be  exercised  by  the  president  and 
senate,  and  by  none  other  ?  The  policy  of  these  men,  both 
then  and  now,  appears  to  me  quite  void  of  wisdom  and 
foresight.  These  sentiments  I  did  mention  in  conversation 
in  Richmond,  and  perhaps  others  which  I  don't  remember ; 
but  sure  I  am,  my  first  principle  is,  that  from  the  British  we 
have  every  thing  to  dread,  when  opportunities  of  oppressing 
us  shall  offer. 

"  It  seems  that  every  word  was  watched  which  I  casually 
dropped,  and  wrested  to  answer  party  views.  Who  can 
have  been  so  meanly  employed,  I  know  not — nor  do  I  care ; 
for  I  no  longer  consider  myself  as  an  actor  on  the  stage  of 
public  life.  It  is  time  for  me  to  retire ;  and  I  shall  never 
more  appear  in  a  public  character,  unless  some  unlooked-for 
circumstance  shall  demand  from  me  a  transient  effort,  not  in 
consistent  with  private  life — in  which  I  have  determined  to 
continue.  I  see  with  concern  our  old  commander-in-chief 
most  abusively  treated — nor  are  his  long  and  great  services 
remembered,  as  any  apology  for  his  mistakes  in  an  ofFce  to 
3  E  34* 


402  WIRT'SLIFEOF 

which  he  was  totally  unaccustomed.  If  he,  whose  charac 
ter  as  our  leader  during  the  whole  war  was  above  all  praise, 
is  so  roughly  handled  in  his  old  age,  what  may  be  expected 
bv  men  of  the  common  standard  of  character  ?  I  ever  wished 
he  might  keep  himself  clear  of  the  office  he  bears,  and  its 
attendant  difficulties — but  I  am  sorry  to  see  the  gross  abuse 
which  is  published  of  him.  Thus,  my  dear  daughter,  have 
I  pestered  you  with  a  long  letter  on  politics,  which  is  a  sub 
ject  little  interesting  to  you,  except  as  it  may  involve  my 
reputation.  I  have  long  learned  the  little  value  which  is  to 
be  placed  on  popularity,  acquired  by  any  other  way  than 
virtue ;  and  I  have  also  learned,  that  it  is  often  obtained  by 
other  means.  The  view  which  the  rising  greatness  of  our 
country  presents  to  my  eyes,  is  greatly  tarnished  by  the  gen 
eral  prevalence  of  deism ;  which,  with  me,  is  but  another 
name  for  vice  and  depravity.  I  am.  however,  much  con 
soled  by  reflecting,  that  the  religion  of  Christ  has,  from  its 
first  appearance  in  the  world,  been  attacked  in  vain,  by  all 
the  wits,  philosophers,  and  wise  ones,  aided  by  every  power 
of  man,  and  its  triumph  has  been  complete.  What  is  there 
in  the  wit,  or  wisdom  of  the  present  deistical  writers  or  pro 
fessors,  that  can  compare  them  with  Hume,  Shaftsbury, 
Bolingbroke,  and  others  ?  and  yet  these  have  been  confuted, 
and  their  fame  decaying;  insomuch,  that  the  puny  efforts 
of  Paine  are  thrown  in  to  prop  their  tottering  fabric,  whose 
foundations  cannot  stand  the  test  of  time.  Amongst  other 
strange  things  said  of  me,  I  hear  it  is  said  by  the  deists  that 
I  am  one  of  the  number;  and,  indeed,  that  some  good 
people  think  I  am  no  Christian.  This  thought  gives  me 
much  more  pain  than  the  appellation  of  tory ;  because  I 
think  religion  of  infinitely  higher  importance  than  politics , 
and  I  find  much  cause  to  reproach  myself,  that  I  have  lived 


PATRICK    HENRY.  403 

so  long,  and  have  given  no  decided  and  public  proofs  of  my 
being  a  Christian.  But,  indeed,  my  dear  child,  this  is  a 
character  which  I  prize  far  above  all  this  world  has  or  can 
boast.  And  amongst  all  the  handsome  things  I  hear  said  of 
you,  what  gives  me  the  greatest  pleasure  is,  to  be  told  of 
your  piety  and  steady  virtue.  Be  assured  there  is  not  one 
tittle,  as  to  disposition  or  character,  in  which  my  parental  af 
fection  for  you  would  suffer  a  wish  for  your  changing ;  and 
it  flatters  my  pride  to  have  you  spoken  of  as  you  are. 

"  Perhaps  Mr.  Roane  and  Anne  may  have  heard  the  re 
ports  you  mention.  If  it  will  be  any  object  with  them  to 
see  what  I  write  you,  show  them  this.  But  my  wish  is  to 
pass  the  rest  of  my  days,  as  much  as  may  be,  unobserved  by 
the  critics  of  the  world,  who  would  show  but  little  sympathy 
for  the  deficiencies  to  which  old  age  is  so  liable.  May  God 
bless  you,  my  dear  Betsy,  and  your  children.  Give  my  love 
to  Mr.  Aylett, 

"  And  believe  me  ever, 

"Your  affectionate  father, 

"P.  HENRY." 

This  charge,  however,  had  not  deprived  Mr.  Henry  of  the 
confidence  of  his  country ;  for  in  the  session  of  the  legislature 
which  followed  the  date  of  his  letter,  he  was  for  the  third 
time  elected  the  governor  of  the  state.  The  letter  by  which 
he  declined  the  acceptance  of  that  office  is  as  follows : — 

"  To  the  honourable  the  speaker  of  the  house  of  delegates. 

"  Charlotte  County,  Nov.  29th,  1796. 
"  Sir, 

"  I  have  just  received  the  honour  of  yours,  informing  me 
of  my  appointment  to  the  chief  magistracy  of  the  com- 


404 


w  IRT'S   LIFE    OF 


monwealth.  And  I  have  to  beg  the  favour  of  you,  sir,  to 
convey  to  the  general  assembly,  my  best  acknowledgments, 
and  warmest  gratitude  for  the  signal  honour  they  have  con 
ferred  on  me.  I  should  be  happy  if  I  could  persuade  myself, 
that  my  abilities  were  commensurate  to  the  duties  of  that 
office  ;  but  my  declining  years  warn  me  of  my  inability. 

"  I  beg  leave,  therefore,  to  decline  the  appointment,  and  to 
hope  and  trust  that  the  general  assembly  will  be  pleased  to 
excuse  me  for  doing  so  ;  as  no  doubt  can  be  entertained  that 
many  of  my  fellow-citizens  possess  the  requisite  abilities  for 
this  high  trust. 

"  With  the  highest  regard,  I  am,  sir, 

"  Your  most  obedient  servant, 

"  P.  HENRY." 

This  was  the  last  testimonial  of  public  confidence  which 
Mr.  Henry  received  from  his  native  state.  The  rumours  of 
his  political  apostacy  became  strong  and  general.  He  was 
a  prize  worth  contending  for;  and  it  is  not  wonderful  there 
fore  that  the  rival  parties  observed,  with  the  most  jealous 
distrust,  every  advance  which  was  made  towards  him  by  the 
other, and  interpreted  such  advances  as'so  many  stratagems 
to  gain  him  over:  nor  is  it  wonderful  if,  during  the  fever  of 
that  hot  and  violent  struggle,  many  things  were  supposed  to 
be  seen,  which  did  not  in  fact  exist;  and  that  those  which 
did  exist,  were  sometimes  seen  under  false  shapes  and  col 
ours.  It  was  reported  at  that  day,  that  on  Mr.  Jefferson's 
resignation  of  the  office  of  secretary  of  state,  that  office  was 
offered  to  Mr.  Henry,  in  the  confidence  that,  while  the  offer 
would  gratify  him,  he  would  nevertheless  reject  it:  however 
this  may  be,  it  is  certain  that  the  embassy  to  Spain'  was 
offered  to  him  during  the  first  administration;  and  that  to 


PATRICK     HENRY.  405 

France  during  the  second.*  These  offers  were  known  at  the 
time  ;  and  when  compared  with  his  advanced  age' — the 
large  family  with  which  he  was  encumbered — his  settled 
and  well-known  purpose  of  retirement — and  the  consequent 
probability  that  these  offers  would  not  be  accepted — and  the 
sentiments  which  he  afterward  expressed,  in  favour  of  some 
of  the  measures  of  administration,  which  were  extremely 
obnoxious  in  Virginia — those  offers  were  considered  by  the 
republicans,  as  so  many  strokes  of  political  flattery,  addressed 
to  the  vanity  of  an  old  man,  and  which  had  been  but  too 
successful  in  having  won  him  to  the  federal  ranks.  That  he 
approved  of  the  alien  and  sedition  laws^jisgood  measures, 
is  undeniable ;  indeed,  Eewas  not  a  man  who  womcTojeny 
any  opinion  that  he  hdoj^and,  howeverjionest^might  have 
jjeen^  his  conyjction^Jjoth  of  the  constitutionality  and  jsxpe- 
.diency  of  these  measures,  it  is  equally  undeniable,  that  his 
sentiments  in  relation  to  them,  combined  wTflTlKcP above 
causes,  by  which  thosTlseTu^^  of  having 

been  influence?,  produced  an  extremely  unpropitious  effect 
on  his  popularity  in  Virginia^ 

The  charge  of  apostacy,  however,  implies  a  previous  com 
mitment  to  the  opposite  side :  but  the  evidence  that  Mr. 
Henry  ever  stood  committed  to  the  democratic  or  to  any 
other  party,  (except  the  great  American  party  of  liberty  and 
republican  government,)  has  not  yet  been  seen  by  the  author 
of  these  sketches.  At  the  time  of  his  retirement,  it  is  be 
lieved  that  the  post-constitutional  parties  were  not  distinctly 
marked.  He  had  no  opportunity,  after  they  were  so  marked, 
of  expressing  his  opinion  publicly  in  favour  of  the  one  side 
or  the  other.  It  is  highly  probable,  that  his  opinions  did  not 

*  On  the  authority  of  Judge  Winston. 


106  WIRT'S    LIFE    OF 

coincide  throughout  with  those  of  either  side :  and  it  would 
be  rather  rash  to  infer,  from  his  disapprobation  of  cne  or 
more  measures  of  the  administration,  or  from  his  general 
love  of  liberty,  that  he  must  of  necessity  have  been  attached 
at  first  to  the  democratic  side.  Nor  would  it  be  more  correct 
to  infer,  from  his  having  resisted  the  adoption  of  the  federal 
constitution,  that  he  was  therefore  opposed  to  the  measures 
of  those  who  administered  it ;  for  the  converse  of  this  propo 
sition,  which  must  be  equally  true,  would  have  thrown  many 
more  into  the  federal  ranks  than  would  have  been  willing  to 
acknowledge  the  connexion.  Mr.  Henry  had  moreover  de 
clared,  as  we  have  seen,  in  the  last  speech  which  he  made  in 
the  state  convention,  in  opposition  to  the  constitution,  that  if 
it  should  be  adopted,  he  would  be  a  peaceable  citizen ;  that 
he  would  not  go  to  violence,  but  that  he  would  seek  the  cor 
rection  of  whatever  he  thought  amiss,  by  quiet  means. 
Upon  the  whole,  it  would  seem  more  liberal,  more  consonant 
to  the  high  character  of  Mr.  Henry's  mind,  with  his  time  of 
life,  and  with  that  distant  and  feeble  connexion  which  he 
now  considered  himself  as  holding  with  politics,  and  indeed 
with  the  world — to  believe  that  he  looked,  without  passion  or 
prejudice  of  any  kind,  on  the  course  of  the  administration 
approving  or  condemning,  according  to  his  own  judgment, 
without  reference  to  the  pleasure  or  opinions  of  either  side  : 
or  if  we  must  suppose  him  under  personal  influence  of  any 
kind,  would  it  have  been  unpardonable  in  him,  to  have  been 
influenced  by  the  opinions  of  that  man,  who  had  ever  stood 
first  both  in  his  judgment  and  affections,  and  whom  all  Amer 
ica  acknowledged  as  the  father  of  his  country  ? 

Other  natural  causes,  too,  may  be  fairly  considered  as 
having  united  their  influence  in  producing  this  difference  of 
political  sentiment,  between  Mr.  Henry  and  the  majority  oi 


P  ATRIC  K  HENR  Y.  407 

his  state.  In  the  year  1797,  his  health  began  to  decline, 
and  continued  to  sink  gradually  to  the  moment  of  his  death.* 
He  had  now  passed  through  a  stormy  life  to  his  sixtietn  year, 
and  the  vigour  of  his  mind,  exhausted  more  by  past  toils 
than  by  years,  began  to  give  way.  Those  energies  whir.h 
had  enabled  him  to  brave  the  power  of  Great  Britain,  and 
to  push  forward  the  glorious  revolution  which  made  us  free, 
existed  no  longer  in  their  original  force.  The  usual  infirm 
ities  of  age  and  disease  began  to  press,  sorely  and  heavily, 
upon  his  sinking  spirits.  He  was  startled  by  that  clash  of 
contending  parties,  which  rang  continually  around  him,  and 
invaded,  with  perpetually  increasing  horror,  the  stillness  of 
his  retreat.  His  retirement  cut  him  off,  almost  entirely, 
from  all  communication  with  those  who  were  best  able  to 
explain  the  grounds,  as  well  as  the  character  and  measure 
of  opposition  to  the  offensive  measures,  which  was  intended ; 
and  the  spirit  and  views  of  that  opposition  were,  no  doubt, 
aggravated  to  him  by  report.  Acting  as  those  things  did  on 
the  mind  of  an  infirm  old  man ;  worn  out  by  the  toils  and 
troubles  of  the  past  revolution,  and  naturally  wishing  for  re 
pose  ;  alarmed  too,  and  agonized  by  the  hideous  scenes  of 
that  revolution  which  was  then  going  on  in  France ;  arid 
tortured  by  the  apprehension,  that  those  scenes  were  about 
to  be  acted  over  again  in  his  own  country — it  is  not  surprising, 
that  he  was  dismayed  by  the  vehemence  of  that  political 
strife  which  then  agitated  the  United  States ;  nor  would  it 
be  surprising,  if  his  solicitude  to  allay  the  ferment  and  re 
store  the  peace  of  society,  should,  in  some  degree,  have  ob 
scured  the  decisions  of  his  mind  ;  and  placed  him,  rather  by 
his  fears  than  his  judgment,  in  opposition  to  the  forcible 

*  Judge  Winston. 


408  WIRT'S    LIFE    OF 

resistance,  which  he  had  been  erroneously  led  to  consider  as 
meditated  by  the  democratic  party.  In  a  mind  thus  prepared, 
the  strong  and  animated  resolutions  of  the  Virginia  assembly, 
in  1798,  in  relation  to  the  alien  and  sedition  laws,  conjured 
up  the  most  frightful  visions  of  civil  war,  disunion,  blood, 
and  anarchy ;  and  under  the  impulse  of  these  phantoms,  to 
make  what  he  considered  a  virtuous  effort  for  his  country, 
he  presented  himself  in  Charlotte  county,  as  a  candidate  for 
the  house  of  delegates,  at  the  spring  election  of  1799. 

On  the  day  of  the  election,  as  soon  as  he  appeared  on  the 
ground,  he  was  surrounded  by  the  admiring  and  adoring 
crowd,  and  whithersoever  he  moved,  the  concourse  followed 
him.  A  preacher  of  the  Baptist  Church,  whose  piety  was 
wounded  by  this  homage  paid  to  a  mortal,  asked  the  people 
aloud,  "  Why  they  thus  followed  Mr.  Henry  about  ? — Mr. 
Henry,"  said  he,  "  is  not  a  god  !"  "  No,"  said  Mr.  Henry, 
deeply  affected  both  by  the  scene  and  the  remark :  "  no,  in 
deed,  my  friend ;  I  am  but  a  poor  worm  of  the  dust — as 
fleeting  and  unsubstantial  as  the  shadow  of  the  cloud  that 
flies  over  your  fields,  and  is  remembered  no  more."  The 
tone  with  which  this  was  uttered,  and  the  look  which  ac 
companied  it,  affected  every  heart,  and  silenced  every  voice. 
Envy  and  opposition  were  disarmed  by  his  humility;  the 
iccollection  of  his  past  services  rushed  upon  every  memory, 
and  he  "read  his  history"  in  their  swimming  eyes. 

Before  the  polls  were  opened,  he  addressed  the  people  of 
the  county  to  the  following  effect : — "  He  told  them  that  the 
late  proceedings  of  the  Virginian  assembly  had  Billed  him  with 
apprehensions  and  alarm  ;  that  they  had  planted  thorns  upon 
his  pillow;  that  they  had  drawn  him  from  that  happy  re 
tirement  which  it  had  pleased  a  bountiful  Providence  to 
bestow,  and  in  which  he  had  hoped  to  pass,  in  quiet,  the 


P  A  T  R  1  C  K     H  E  N  R  Y .  409 

remainder  of  his  days ;  that  the  state  had  quitted  the  sphere 
in  which  she  had  been  placed  by  the  constitution ;  and  in 
daring  to  pronounce  upon  the  validity  of  federal  laws,  had 
gone  out  of  her  jurisdiction  in  a  manner  not  warranted  by 
any  authority,  and  in  the  highest  degree  alarming  to  every 
considerate  man ;  that  such  opposition,  on  the  part  of  Vir 
ginia,  to  the  acts  of  the  general  government,  must  beget  their 
enforcement  by  military  power ;  that  this  would  probably 
produce  civil  war;  civil  war,  foreign  alliances;  and  that 
foreign  alliances  must  necessarily  end  in  subjugation  to  the 
powers  called  in.  He  conjured  the  people  to  pause  and  con 
sider  well,  before  they  rushed  into  such  a  desperate  condi 
tion,  from  which  there  could  be  no  retreat.  He  painted  to 
their  imaginations,  Washington,  at  the  head  of  a  numerous 
and  well-appointed  army,  inflicting  upon  them  military  exe 
cution:  *  And  where  (he  asked)  are  our  resources  to  meet 
such  a  conflict  ? — Where  is  the  citizen  of  America  who  will 
dare  to  lift  his  hand  against  the  father  of  his  country  ?'  A 
drunken  man  in  the  crowd  threw  up  his  arm,  and  exclaimed 
that  '  he  dared  to  do  it.' — *  No,'  answered  Mr.  Henry,  rising 
aloft  in  all  his  majesty :  '  you  dare  not  do  it :  in  such  a 
parricidal  attempt,  the  steel  would  drop  from  your  nerve 
less  arm  /'  '  The  look  and  gesture  at  this  moment,  (says  a 
correspondent,)  gave  to  these  words  an  energy  on  my  mind 
unequalled  by  any  thing  that  I  have  ever  witnessed.'  Mr. 
Henry,  proceeding  in  his  address  to  the  people,  asked — 
'  whether  the  county  of  Charlotte  would  have  any  authority 
to  dispute  an  obedience  to  the  laws  of  Virginia ;'  and  he  pro 
nounced  Virginia  to  be  to  the  Union,  what  the  county  of 
Charlotte  was  to  her. 

"  Having  denied  the  right  of  a  state  to  decide  upon  the  con- 
3F  35 


410  WIRT'S  LIFE  OF 

stilutionality  of  federal  laws,  he  added,  that  perhaps  it  might 
be  necessary  to  say  something  of  the  merits  of  the  laws  in 
question.  His  private  opinion  was,  that  they  were  '  good 
and  proper?  But,  whatever  might  be  their  merits,  it  be 
longed  to  the  people,  who  held  the  reins  over  the  head  oi 
congress,  and  to  them  alone,  to  say  whether  they  were  ac 
ceptable  or  otherwise  to  Virginians  ;  and  that  this  must  be 
done  by  way  of  petition.  That  ^pngressjvere  jis  much  our 
representatives  as  the  assembly,  and  had  as  good  a  right  to 
"Our  confictence;  He~~had 


power  over  the  purse  and  sword  consigned  to  the  general 
government  ;  but  that  he  had  been  overruled,  and  it  was 
now  necessary  to  submit  to  the  constitutional  exercise  of  that 
power.  *  If,'  said  he,  '  I  am  asked  what  is  to  be  done,  when 
a  people  feel  themselves  intolerably  oppressed,  my  answer  is 
ready  :  —  Overturn  the  government.  But  do  not,  I  beseech 
you,  carry  matters  to  this  length,  without  provocation.  Wait 
at  least  until  some  infringement  is  made  upon  your  rights, 
and  which  cannot  otherwise  be  redressed  ;  for  if  ever  you 
recur  to  another  change,  you  may  bid  adieu  for  ever  to 
representative  government.  You  can  never  exchange  the 
present  government  but  for  a  monarchy.  If  the  adminis 
tration  have  done  wrong,  let  us  all  go  wrong  together,  rather 
than  split  into  factions,  which  must  destroy  that  union  upon 
which  our  existence  hangs.  Let  us  preserve  our  strength 
for  the  French,  the  English,  the  Germans,  or  whoever  else 
'"shall  dare  10  Invade  our  lerntory,  and  not  exhaust  it  in  civil 
TTommotions^ancf  intestine  wars.'  He  concluded,  by  declaring 
his  design  to  exert  himself  in  the  endeavour  to  allay  the 
heart-burnings  and  jealousies  which  had  been  fomented  in 
the  state  legislature  ;  and  he  fervently  prayed,  if  he  was 
deemed  unworthy  to  effect  it,  that  it  might  be  reserved  to 


Al'RICK    HENRY.  411 

some  other  and  abler  hand,  to  extend  this  blessing  over  the 
community." 

This  was  the  substance  of  the  speech  written  down  at 
the  time  by  one  of  his  hearers.  "  There  was,"  says  the 
writer,  "  an  emphasis  in  his  language,  to  which,  like  the 
force  of  his  articulation,  and  the  commanding  expression  of 
his  eye,  no  representation  can  do  justice  ;  yet  I  am  conscious 
of  having  given  a  correct  transcript  of  his  opinions,  and,  in 
many  instances,  his  very  expression." 

Such  was  the  last  effort  of  Mr.  Henry's  eloquence :  the 
power  of  the  noonday  sun  was  gone ;  but  its  setting  splen 
dours  were  not  less  beautiful  and  touching.  After  this 
speech,  the  polls  were  opened ;  and  he  was  elected  by  his 
usual  commanding  majority. 

His  intention  having  been  generally  known  for  some  time 
before  the  period  of  the  state  elections,  the  most  formidable 
preparations  were  made  to  oppose  him  in  the  assembly.  Mr. 
Madison,  (the  late  president  of  Uie  United  States,)  Mr.  Giles 
of  Amelia,  Mr.  Taylor  of  Caroline,  Mr.  Nicholas  of  Albemarle, 
and  a  host  of  young  men  of  shining  talents,  from  every  part 
of  the  state,  were  arrayed  in  the  adverse  rank,  and  com 
manded  a  decided  majority  in  the  house.  But  Heaven,  in 
its  mercy,  saved  him  from  the  unequal  conflict.  The  disease 
which  had  been  preying  upon  him  for  two  years,  now  has 
tened  to  its  crisis ;  and  on  the  sixth  day  of  June,  1 799,  this 
friend  of  liberty  and  of  man  was  no  more  ! 

Here  let  us  pause.  The  storm  of  1799,  thank  Heaven! 
has  passed  away ;  and  we  again  enjoy  the  calm  and  sun 
shine  of  domestic  peace.  We  are  able,  now,  to  see  with 
other  eyes,  and  to  feel  with  far  different  he  vrts.  Who  is  there 


412  WIRT'S    LIFE    OF 

that,  looking  back  upon  the  part  which  he  bore  in  those 
scenes,  can  say  that  he  was  at  no  time  guilty  of  any  fault  of 
conduct,  any  error  of  opinion,  or  any  vicious  excess  of  feel 
ing  ?  The  man  who  can  say  this,  is  either  very  much  to  be 
pitied,  or  most  exceedingly  to  be  envied.  But  whatever  we 
may  be  disposed  to  say  or  to  think  of  ourselves,  there  can 
be  very  little  doubt,  that  that  Being,  who  is  the  searcher  of 
hearts,  sees  very  much  during  that  period,  to  be  forgiven  in 
us  all.  It  would,  indeed,  be  presumptuous  in  the  extreme, 
amid  the  universal  admission  which  is  made  of  the  imperfec 
tion  of  human  nature,  in  the  happiest  circumstances,  to  con 
tend  for  its  infallibility,  while  acting  under  the  scourge  of  the 
most  angry  and  vindictive  passions. 

Let  it  be  admitted,  then,  that  during  the  period  of  which 
we  are  speaking,  Mr.  Henry  was  guilty  of  a  political  aber 
ration;  but  let  all  the  peculiar  circumstances  of  his  case 
which  have  been  enumerated,  be  taken  into  the  account ; 
and  let  it  be  farther  remembered,  that  if  he  did  go  astray,  as 
the  majority  of  the  state  belitve,  he  strayed  in  company  with 
the  father  of  his  country — and  where  is  the  heart  so  cold 
and  thankless,  as  to  balance  a  mistake  thus  committed, 
against  a  long  life  of  such  solid,  splendid,  and  glorious  util 
ity  ?  Certainly  not  in  Virginia — and  it  is  to  Virginians  only 
that  this  appeal  is  made.  The  sentiments  now  so  univer 
sally  expressed  in  relation  to  Mr.  Henry,  evince,  that  the  age 
of  party  resentment  has  passed  away,  and  that  that  of  the 
noblest  gratitude  has  taken  its  place.  But  let  us  return  to 
our  narrative. 

At  the  session  of  the  assembly  immediately  following  Mr 
Henry's  death,  before  the  spirit  of  party  had  time  to  relent, 
and  gi\  e  way  to  that  generous  feeling  of  grateful  veneration 


PATRICK     HENRY.  413 

for  him,  which  now  pervades  the  state,  a  federal  member  of 
the  house  moved  the  following  resolution : — 

*  The  general  assembly  of  Virginia,  as  a  testimonial  of 
their  veneration  for  the  character  of  their  late  illustrious 
fellow-citizen,  Patrick  Henry,  whose  unrivalled  eloquence 
and  superior  talents  were,  in  times  of  peculiar  peril  and  dis 
tress,  so  uniformly,  so  powerfully,  and  so  successfully,  devo 
ted  to  the  cause  of  freedom,  and  of  his  country — and,  in 
order  to  invite  the  present  and  future  generations  to  an  imi 
tation  of  his  virtues,  and  an  emulation  of  his  fame — 

"  Resolved,  That  the  executive  be  authorized  and  re 
quested,  to  procure  a  marble  bust  of  the  said  Patrick 
Henry,  at  the  public  expense,  and  to  cause  the  same  to 
be  placed  in  one  of  the  niches  of  the  hall  of  the  house  of 
delegates." 

Nothing  could  have  been  more  unfortunate  for  the  success 
of  this  resolution,  than  the  time  at  which  it  was  brought  for 
ward,  and  the  mover  by  whom  it  was  offered.  The  time,  as 
we  have  seen,  was  during  that  paroxysm  of  displeasure 
against  Mr.  Henry,  which  even  his  death,  although  it  had 
abated,  had  not  entirely  allayed :  and  the  mover  was  a  gen 
tleman  who  had  himself  been  recently  counted  on  the  repub 
lican  side  of  the  house,  and  was  now  also  smarting  under 
the  charge  of  apostacy.  All  the  angry  passions  of  the  house 
immediately  arose  at  such  a  proposition,  from  such  a  quarter. 
A  republican  member  moved  to  lay  the  resolution  on  the 
table ;  the  gentleman  who  offered  it  replied  with  warmth, 
that  if  it  were  so  disposed  of,  he  would  never  call  it  up 
again.  It  was  laid  upon  the  table,  and  has  been  heard  of  no 
more. 

3  F  35" 


114  PATRICK     HENRY. 

Thus  lived,  and  thus  died,  the  celebrated  Patrick  Henry 
of  Virginia ;  a  man  who  justly  deserves  to  be  ranked  among 
the  highest  ornaments  and  noblest  benefactors  of  his  country. 
Had  his  lot  been  cast  in  the  republics  of  Greece  or  Rome 
his  name  would  have  been  enrolled  by  some  immortal  pen, 
among  the  expellers  of  tyrants  and  the  champions  of  liberty : 
the  proudest  monuments  of  national  gratitude  would  have 
risen  to  his  honour,  and  handed  down  his  memory  to  future 
generations.  As  it  is,  his  fame,  as  yet,  is  left  to  rest  upon 
tradition,  and  on  that  short  notice  which  general  history  can 
take  of  him ;  while  no  memorial,  no  slab  even,  raised  by  the 
hand  of  national  gratitude,  points  us  to  his  grave,  or  tells 
where  sleep  the  ashes  of  the  patriot  and  the  sage.  May  we 
not  hope,  that  this  reproach  upon  the  state  will  soon  be 
wiped  away,  and  that  ample  atonement  will  be  made  for  our 
past  neglect  ? 


CONCLUSION. 
i 

MR.  HENRY,  by  his  two  marriages,  was  the  father  of  fif 
teen  children.  By  his  first  wife  he  had  six,  of  whom  two 
only  survived  him;  by  his  last,  he  had  six  sons  and  three 
daughters,  all  of  whom,  together  with  their  mother,  were 
living  at  his  death. 

He  had  been  fortunate  during  the  latter  part  of  his  life  ; 
and,  chiefly  by  the  means  of  judicious  purchases  of  lands, 
had  left  his  family,  large  as  it  was,  not  only  independent, 
but  rich. 

In  his  habits  of  living,  he  was  remarkably  temperate  and 
frugal.  He  seldom  drank  any  thing  but  water ;  and  his 
table,  though  abundantly  spread,  was  furnished  only  with  the 
most  simple  viands.  Necessity  had  imposed  those  habits 
upon  him  in  the  earlier  part  of  his  life ;  and  use,  as  well  as 
reason,  now  made  them  his  choice. 

His  children  were  raised  with  little  or  no  restraint.  He 
seems  not  to  have  thought  very  highly  of  early  education. 
It  is  indeed  probable,  that  his  own  success,  which  was  attri 
butable  almost  entirely  to  the  natural  powers  of  his  mind, 
had  diminished  the  importance  of  an  extensive  education  in 
his  view.  But  although  they  were  suffered  to  run  wild  for 
some  years,  and,  indeed,  committed  to  the  sole  guidance  of 
nature,  to  a  much  later  period  than  usual,  yet  they  were 
finally  al)  well  educated;  and  not  only  by  the  reflected  worth 
of  their  father,  but  by  their  own  merits,  have  always  occu 
pied  a  most  respectable  station  in  society. 

3G  417 


418  WIRT'S    LIFE     OF 

Mr.  Henry's  conversation  was  remarkably  pure  and  chaste. 
He  never  swore.  He  was  never  heard  to  take  the  name  of 
his  Maker  in  vain.  He  was  a  sincere  Christian,  though  after 
a  form  of  his  own ;  for  he  was  never  attached  to  any  par 
ticular  religious  society,  and  never,  it  is  believed,  communed 
with  any  church.  A  friend  who  visited  him  not  long  before 
his  death,  found  him  engaged  in  reading  the  Bible  : — "  Here," 
said  he,  holding  it  up,  "  is  a  book  worth  more  than  all 
the  other  books  that  were  ever  printed :  yet  it  is  my  misfor 
tune  never  to  have  found  time  to  read  it,  with  the  proper 
attention  and  feeling,  till  lately.  I  trust  in  the  mercy  of 
Heaven,  that  it  is  not  yet  too  late."  He  was  much  pleased 
with  Soame  Jenyns'  view  of  the  internal  evidences  of  the 
Christian  religion;  so  much  so,  that  about  the  year  1790, 
he  had  an  impression  of  it  struck  at  his  own  expense,  and 
distributed  among  the  people.  His  other  favourite  works  on 
the  subject  were  Doddridge's  "  Rise  and  Progress  of  Religion 
in  the  Soul,"  and  Butler's  "  Analogy  of  Religion,  Natural 
and  Revealed."  This  latter  work,  he  used  at  one  period  of 
his  life  to  style,  by  way  of  pre-eminence,  his  Bible.  The 
selection  proves  not  only  the  piety  of  his  temper,  but  the 
correctness  of  his  taste,  and  his  relish  for  profound  and  vig 
orous  disquisition. 

His  morals  were  strict.  As  a  husband,  a  father,  a  master 
he  had  no  superior  He  was  kind  and  hospitable  to  the 
stranger,  and  most  friendly  and  accommodating  to  his  neigh 
bours.  In  his  dealings  with  the  world,  he  was  faithful  to 
his  promise,  and  punctual  in  his  contracts,  to  the  utmost  of 
his  power. 

Yet  we  do  not  claim  for  him  a  total  exemption  from  the 
failures  of  humanity.  Moral  perfection  is  not  the  property 
of  man.  The  love  of  money  is  said  to  have  been  one  of 


PATRICK     HE  JSRY.  419 

Mr.  Henry's  strongest  passions,.  In  his  desire  for  accumula 
tion,  he  was  cfiarged  with  wringing  from  the  hands  of  his 
clients,  and  more  particularly  those  of  the  criminals  whom 
he  defended,  fees  rather  too  exorbitant.  He  was  censured, 
too,  for  an  attempt  o  locate  the  shores  of  the  Chesapeake, 
which  had  heretofore  been  used  as  a  public  common,  al 
though  theie  was,  at  that  time,  no  law  of  the  state  which 
protected  them  from  location.  In  one  of  his  earlier  pur 
chases  of  land,  he  was  blamed  also  for  having  availed  himself 
of  the  existing  laws  of  the  state,  in  paying  for  it  in  the  de 
preciated  paper-currency  of  the  country ;  nor  was  he  free 
from  censure  on  account  of  some  participation  which  he  is 
said  to  have  had  in  the  profits  of  the  Yazoo  trade.  He  was 
accused,  too,  of  having  been  rather  more  vain  of  his  wealth, 
toward  the  close  of  his  life,  than  became  a  man  so  great  in 
other  respects.  Let  these  things  be  admitted,  and  "  let  the 
man  who  is  without  fault  cast  the  first  stone."  In  mitiga 
tion  of  these  charges,  if  they  be  true,  it  ought  to  be  considered 
that  Mr.  Henry  had  been,  during  the  greater  part  of  his  life, 
intolerably  oppressed  by  poverty  and  all  its  distressing  train 
of  consequences ;  that  the  family  for  which  he  had  to  pro 
vide  was  very  large  ;  and  that  the  bar,  although  it  has  been 
called  the  road  to  honour,  was  not  in  those  days  the  road  to 
wealth.  With  these  considerations  in  view,  charity  may 
easily  pardon  him  for  having  considered  only  the  legality 
of  the  means  which  he  used  to  acquire  an  independence  ; 
and  she  can  easily  excuse  him  too,  for  having  felt  the  suc 
cess  of  his  endeavours  a  little  more  sensibly  than  might 
have  been  becoming.  He  was  certainly  neither  proud,  nor 
hard-hearted,  nor  penurious  :  if  he  was  either,  there  can  be 
no  reliance  on  human  testimony ;  which  represents  him  as 

being,  in  his  general  intercourse  with  the  world,  not  only  ri- 
3G 


420  WIRT'S     LIFE    OF 

gidly  honest,  but  one  of  the  kindest,  gentlest,  and  most  indul 
gent  of  human  beings. 

While  we  are  on  this  ungrateful  subject  of  moral  imper- 
foction,  the  fidelity  of  history  requires  us  to  notice  another 
charge  against  Mr.  Henry.  His  passion  for  fame  is  said  to 
have  been  too  strong  ;  he  was  accused  of  a  wish  to  monopo 
lize  the  public  favour;  and  under  the  influence  of  this  de 
sire,  to  have  felt  no  gratification  in  the  rising  fame  of  certain 
conspicuous  characters  ;  to  have  indulged  himself  in  invidious 
and  unmerited  remarks  upon  them,  and  to  have  been  at 
the  bottom  of  a  cabal  against  one  of  the  most  eminent.  If 
these  things  were  so — alas  !  poor  human  nature  !  It  is  cer 
tain  that  these  charges  are  very  inconsistent  with  his  general 
character.  So  far  from  being  naturally  envious,  and  dis 
posed  to  keep  back  modest  merit,  one  of  the  finest  traits  in 
his  character  was,  the  parental  tenderness  with  which  he 
took  by  the  hand  every  young  man  of  merit,  covered  him 
with  his  aegis  in  the  legislature,  and  led  him  forward  at  the 
bar.  In  relation  to  his  first  great  rival  in  eloquence,  Richard 
Henry  Lee,  he  not  only  did  ample  justice  to  him  on  every 
occasion,  in  public,  but  defended  his  fame  in  private,  with  all 
the  zeal  of  a  brother ;  as  is  demonstrated  by  an  original  cor 
respondence  between  those  two  eminent  men,  now  in  the 
hands  of  the  author.  Of  Colonel  Innis,  his  next  great  rival, 
he  entertained,  and  uniformly  expressed,  the  most  exalted 
opinion;  and  in  the  convention  of  1788,  as  will  be  remem 
bered,  paid  a  compliment  to  his  eloquence,  at  once  so  splen 
did,  so  happy,  and  so  just,  that  it  will  live  for  ever.  The 
debates  of  that  convention  abound  with  the  most  unequivocal 
and  ardent  declarations  of  his  respect,  for  the  talents  and 
virtues  of  the  other  eminent  gentlemen  who  were  arrayed 
against  him — Mr.  Madison — Mr.  Penclleton — Mr.  Randolph 


PATRICK     HENRY.  421 

Even  the  justly  great  and  overshadowing  fame  of  Mr.  Jeffer 
son  never  extorted  from  him,  in  public  at  least,  one  invidious 
remark ;  on  the  contrary,  the  name  of  that  gentleman,  who 
was  then  in  France,  having  been  introduced  into  the  debates 
of  the  convention,  for  the  purpose  of  borrowing  the  weight 
of  his  opinion,  Mr.  Henry  spoke  of  him  in  the  strongest  and 
warmest  terms,  not  only  of  admiration  but  of  affection — 
styling  him  "our  illustrious  fellow-citizen  " — "our  enlight 
ened  and  worthy  countryman" — "our  common  friend" 

The  inordinate  love  of  money  and  of  fame  are,  certainly, 
base  and  degrading  passions.  They  have  sometimes  tar 
nished  characters  otherwise  the  most  bright ,  but  they  will 
find  no  advocate  or  apologist  in  any  virtuous  bosom.  In  re 
lation  to  Mr.  Henry,  however,  we  may  be  permitted  to  doubt 
whether  the  facts  on  which  these  censures  (so  inconsistent 
with  his  general  character)  are  grounded,  have  not  been  mis 
conceived  ;  and  whether  so  much  of  them  as  is  really  true, 
may  not  be  fairly  charged  to  the  common  account  of  human 
imperfection. 

Mr.  Henry's  great  intellectual  defect  was  his  indolence i 
To  this  it  was  owing,  that  he  never  possessed  that  admirable 
alertness  and  vigorous  versatility  of  mind,  which  turns 
promptly  to  every  thing,  attends  to  every  thing,  arranges 
every  thing,  and  by  systematizing  its  operations,  despatches 
each  in  its  proper  time,  and  place,  and  manner.  To  the 
same  cause  it  is  to  be  ascribed,  that  he  never  possessed  that 
patient  drudgery,  and  that  ready,  neat,  copious,  and  mas 
terly  command  of  details,  which  forms  so  essential  a  part  of 
the  duties  both  of  the  statesman  and  the  lawyer.  Hence, 
too,  he  did  not  avail  himself  of  the  progress  of  science  and 
literature,  in  his  age.  He  had  not,  as  he  might  have  done, 
amassed  those  ample  stores  of  various,  useful,  and  curious 

36 


422  W  I  R  T  '  S     L  I  F  E     0  F 

knowledge,  which  are  so  naturally  expected  to  be  found  in 
a  great  man.  His  library  (of  which  an  inventory  has  been 
furnished  to  the  author)  was  extremely  small ;  composed 
not  only  of  a  very  few  books,  but  those,  too,  commonly  odd 
volumes.  Of  science  and  literature,  he  knew  little  or  nothing 
more  than  was  occasionally  gleaned  from  conversation.  It 
is  not  easy  to  conceive,  what  a  mind  like  his  might  have 
achieved  in  either,  or  both  of  these  walks,  had  it  been  prop 
erly  trained  at  first,  or  industriously  occupied  in  those  long 
intervals  of  leisure  which  he  threw  away.  One  thing,  how 
ever,  may  be  safely  pronounced ;  that  had  that  mind  of 
Herculean  strength  been  either  so  trained,  or  so  occupied,  he 
would  have  left  behind  him  some  written  monument,  com 
pared  with  which,  even  statues  and  pillars  would  have  been 
but  the  ephemerae  of  a  day.  But  he  seems  to  have  been  of 
Hobbes's  opinion,  who  is  reported  to  have  said  of  himself, 
"  that  if  he  had  read  as  much  as  other  men,  he  should  have 
been  as  ignorant  as  they  were."*  Mr.  Henry's  book  was 
the  great  volume  of  human  nature.  In  this,  he  was  more 
deeply  read  than  any  of  his  countrymen.  He  knew  men 
thoroughly ;  and  hence  arose  his  great  power  of  persuasion.! 
His  preference  of  this  study,  is  manifested  by  the  following 
incident : — he  met  once,  in  a  bookstore,  with  the  late  Mr. 
Ralph  Wormley,  who,  although  a  great  bookworm,  was  in 
finitely  more  remarkable  for  his  ignorance  of  men,  than  Mr 
Henry  was  for  that  of  books. — "  What,  Mr.  Wormley,"  said 
he,  "  still  buying  books  ?"  u  Yes,"  said  Mr.  Wormley,  "  I 
have  just  heard  of  a  new  work,  which  I  am  extremely 

*  Bayle .  article  Hobbes. 

t "  It  is  m  vain,"  says  the  Chancellor  D'Aguesseau,  "  that  the  orator 
flatters  himself  with  having  the  talent  to  persuade  men,  if  he  has  not 
acquired  that  of  knowing  them."  Discourse  i.,  p.  1. 


PATRICK    HENRY.  423 

anxious  to  peruse."  "Take  my  word  for  it,"  said  he,  "Mr. 
Wormley,  we  are  too  old  to  read  books:  read  men — they/ 
are  the  only  vpjurne.  that  we  can  read  to  advantage."  Butf 
Mr.  Henry  might  have  perused  both  with  infinite  advantage 
not  only  to  himself,  but  to  his  country,  and  to  the  world; 
and  that  he  did  not  do  it,  may,  it  is  believed,  be  fairly 
ascribed,  rather  to  the  indolence  of  his  temper,  than  the 
deliberate  decision  of  his  judgment. 

Judge  Winston  says,  that  "he  was,  throughout  life, 
negligent  of  his  dress:"  but  this,  it  is  apprehended,  applied 
rather  to  his  habits  in  the  country  than  to  his  appearance  in 
public.  At  the  bar  of  the  general  court,  he  always  appeared 
in  a  full  suit  of  black  cloth,  or  velvet,  and  a  tie  wig,  which 
was  dressed  and  powdered  in  the  highest  style  of  forensic 
fashion  ;  in  the  winter  season,  too,  according  to  the  costume  of 
the  day,  he  wore  over  his  other  apparel  an  ample  cloak  of  scar 
let  cloth ;  and  thus  attired,  made  a  figure  bordering  on  gran 
deur.  While  he  filled  the  executive  chair,  he  is  said  to  have 
been  justly  attentive  to  his  dress  and  appearance ;  "  not 
being  disposed  to  afford  the  occasion  of  humiliating  compari 
sons  between  the  past  and  present  government." 

He  had  long  since,  roo,  laid  aside  the  offensive  rusticity  of 
his  juvenile  mariners.  His  manners,  indeed,  were  still  unos 
tentatious,  frank,  and  simple  ;  but  they  had  all  that  natural 
ease  and  unaffected  gracefulness,  which  distinguish  the  cir 
cles  of  the  polite  and  wellbred.  On  occasions,  too,  where 
state  and  ceremony  were  expected,  there  was  no  man  who 
could  act  better  his  part.  I  have  had  a  description  of  Mr. 
Henry,  entering,  in  the  full  dress  which  I  have  mentioned, 
the  hall  of  delegates,  at  whose  bar  he  was  about  to  appear 
as  an  advocate,  and  saluting  the  house,  all  around,  with  a 
dignity  and  even  majesty,  that  would  have  done  honour  to 


4^4  WIRT's    LIFE     OF 

the  most  polished  courtier  in  Europe.  This,  however,  was 
only  on  extraordinary  occasions,  when  such  a  deportment 
was  expected,  and  was  properly  in  its  place.  In  gene 
ral,  his  manners  were  those  of  the  plain  Virginian  gentle 
man — kind — open — candid — and  conciliating — warm  with 
out  insincerity,  and  polite  without  pomp — neither  chilling  by 
his  reserve,  nor  fatiguing  by  his  loquacity — but  adapting 
himself,  without  an  effort,  to  the  character  of  his  company. 
"  He  would  be  pleased  and  cheerful,"  says  a  correspondent, 
i;  with  persons  of  any  class  or  condition,  vicious  and  aban 
doned  persons  only  excepted  ;  he  preferred  those^of  character 
and  ^talents,  but  ^uldb6  amused  with  any  wjioj^uld  con- 
tribute^to  his  amusement"  He  had  himself  a  vein  of  pleas 
antry,  which  was  extremely  amusing,  without  detracting 
from  his  dignity.  His  companions,  although  perfectly  at 
their  ease  with  him,  were  never  known  to  treat  him  with 
degrading  familiarities.  Their  love  and  their  respect  for  him 
equally  forbade  it.  Nor  had  they  any  dread  of  an  assault 
upon  their  feelings  ;  for  there  was  nothing  cruel  in  his  wit. 
The  tomahawk  and  scalping-knife  were  no  part  of  his  collo 
quial  apparatus.  He  felt  no  pleasure  in  seeing  the  victim 
writhe  under  his  stroke.  The  benignity  of  his  spirit  could 
not  have  borne  such  a  sight  without  torture.  He  found  him 
self  happiest  in  communicating  happiness  to  others.  His  con 
versation  was  instructive  and  delightful;  stately  where  it 
should  be  so,  but  in  general,  easy,  familiar,  sprightly,  and 
entertaining  ;  always,  however,  good-humoured,  and  calculated 
to  amuse  without  wounding. 

As  a  specimen  of  this  light  and  good-natured  pleasantry, 
the  following  anecdote  has  been  furnished :  Mr.  Henry,  to 
gether  with  Mr.  Richard  H.  Lee,  and  several  other  conspic 
uous  members  of  the  assembly,  were  invited  to  pass  the  even- 


PATRICK     HENRY.  425 

ing  and  night  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Edmund  Randolph,  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Richmond.  Mr.  Lee,  who  was  as  bril 
liant  and  copious  in  conversation  as  in  debate,  had  amused 
the  company  to  a  very  late  hour,  by  descanting  on  the  genius 
of  Cervantes,  particularly  as  exhibited  in  his  chef  d?  ceuvre, 
Don  Quixote.  The  dissertation  had  been  continued  rathei 
too  long:  the  company  began  to  yawn,  when  Mr.  Henry, 
who  had  observed  it,  although  Mr.  Lee  had  not,  rose  slowly 
from  his  chair,  and  remarked  as  he  walked  across  the  room, 
that  Don  Quixote  was  certainly  a  most  excellent  work,  and 
most  skilfully  adapted  to  the  purpose  of  the  author :  "  but," 
said  he,  "  Mr.  Lee,"  stopping  before  him,  with  a  most  signifi 
cant  archness  of  look,  "  you  have  overlooked,  in  your  eulogy, 
one  of  the  finest  things  in  the  book."  "  What  is  that  ?" 
asked  Mr.  Lee.  "  It  is,"  said  Mr.  Henry,  "  that  divine  ex 
clamation  of  Sancho,  *  Blessed  be  the  man  that  first  invented 
sleep  :  it  covers  one  all  over,  like  a  cloak.9 "  Mr.  Lee  took 
the  hint ;  and  the  company  broke  up  in  good  humour. 

His  quick  and  true  discernment  of  characters,  and  his 
prescience  of  political  events,  were  very  much  admired. 
The  following  examples  of  each,  have  been  furnished  by 
Mr.  Pope : — 

Mr.  Gallatin  came  to  Virginia  when  a  very  young  man : 
he  was  obscure  and  unknown,  and  spoke  the  English  lan 
guage  so  badly,  that  it  was  with  difficulty  he  could  be  un 
derstood.  He  was  engaged  in  some  agency  which  made  it 
necessary  to  present  a  petition  to  the  assembly,  and  endeav 
oured  to  interest  the  leading  members  in  its  fate,  by  attempt 
ing  to  explain,  out  of  doors,  its  merits  and  justice.  But  they 
could  not  understand  him  well  enough  to  feel  any  interest 
either  for  him  or  his  petition.  In  this  hopeless  condition  he 
waited  on  Mr.  Henry,  and  soon  felt  that  he  was  in  different 
3  H  36 


426  WIRT'SLIFEOF 

hands.  Mr.  Henry,  on  his  part,  was  so  delighted  with  the 
interview,  that  he  spoke  of  Mr.  Gallatin  every  where  in  rap* 
tures — "  he  declared  him,  without  hesitation  or  doubt,  to  be 
the  most  sensible  and  best  informed  man  he  had  ever  con 
versed  with — he  is  to  be  sure"  said  he,  "  a  most  astonish 
ing  man  /"  The  reader  well  knows  how  eminently  Mr. 
Gallatin  has  since  fulfilled  this  character ;  and  considering 
the  very  disadvantageous  circumstances  under  which  he  was 
seen  by  Mr.  Henry,  it  is  certainly  a  striking  proof  of  the  su 
perior  sagacity  of  the  observer. 

In  relation  to  his  political  foresight,  the  following  anecdote 
is  in  Mr.  Pope's  own  words  : — "In  the  year  1798,  after 
Bonaparte  had  annihilated  five  Austrian  armies,  and,  flushed 
with  victory,  was  carrying  away  every  thing  before  him,  I 
heard  Mr.  Henry  in  a  public  company  observe,  (shaking  his 
head  after  his  impressive  manner) — 'It  won't  all  do  !  the 
present  generation  in  France  is  so  debased  by  a  long  despo 
tism,  they  possess  so  few  of  the  virtues  that  constitute  the 
life  and  soul  of  republicanism,  that  they  are  incapable  of 
forming  a  correct  and  just  estimate  of  rational  liberty.  Their 
revolution  will  terminate  differently  from  what  you  expect — 
their  state  of  anarchy  will  be  succeeded  by  despotism ;  and 
I  should  not  be  surprised,  if  the  very  man  at  whose  victories 
you  now  rejoice,  should,  Cesar-like,  subvert  the  liberties  of 
his  country.  All  who  know  me,'  continued  Mr.  Henry, 
1  know  that  I  am  a  firm  advocate  for  liberty  and  republi 
canism  ;  I  believe  I  have  given  some  evidences  of  this.  I 
wish  it  may  not  be  so,  but  I  am  afraid  the  event  will  justify 
this  prediction.' " 

The  following  is  the  fullest  description  which  the  author 
has  been  able  to  procure  of  Mr.  Henry's  person.  He  was 


PATRICK   HENRY.  427 

nearly  six  feet  high;  spare,  and  what  may  be  called  raw- 
boned,  with  a  slight  stoop  of  the  shoulders — his  complexion 
was  dark,  sunburnt,  and  sallow,  without  any  appearance  of 
blood  in  his  cheeks — his  countenance  grave,  thoughtful, 
penetrating,  and  strongly  marked  with  the  lineaments  of 
deep  reflection — the  earnestness  of  his  manner,  united  with 
an  habitual  contraction  or  knitting  of  his  brows,  and  those 
lines  of  thought  with  which  his  face  was  profusely  furrowed, 
gave  to  his  countenance,  at  some  times,  the  appearance  of 
severity-»-yet  such  was  the  power  which  he  had  over  Its  ex 
pression,  that  he  could  shake  off  from  it  in  an  instant,  all 
the  sternness  of  winter,  and  robe  it  in  the  brightest  smiles 
of  spring.  His  forehead  was  high  and  straight ;  yet  form 
ing  a  sufficient  angle  with  the  lower  part  of  his  face — his 
nose  somewhat  of  the  Roman  stamp,  though  like  that  which 
we  see  in  the  bust  of  Cicero,  it  was  rather  long,  than  re 
markable  for  its  Cesarean  form — of  the  colour  of  his  eyes, 
the  accounts  are  almost  as  various  as  those  which  we  have 
of  the  colour  of  the  chameleon — they  are  said  to  have  been 
blue,  gray,  what  Lavater  calls  green,  hazel,  brown,  and 
black — the  fact  seems  to  have  been  that  they  were  of  a  blu 
ish-gray,  not  large  ;  and  being  deeply  fixed  in  his  head, 
overhung  by  dark,  long,  and  full  eyebrows,  and  farther 
shaded  by  lashes  that  were  both  long  and  black,  their  appa 
rent  colour  was  as  variable  as  the  lights  in  which  they  were 
seen — but  all  concur  in  saying  that  they  were,  unquestionably, 
the  finest  feature  in  his  face — brilliant — full  of  spirit,  and 
capable  of  the  most  rapidly-shifting  and  powerful  expres 
sion — at  one  time  piercing  and  terrible  as  those  of  Mars,  and 
then  again  soft  and  tender  as  those  of  Pity  herself — his 
cheeks  were  hollow — his  chin  long,  but  well  formed,  and 
rounded  at  the  end,  so  as  to  form  a  proper  counterpart  to  the 


428  WIRTSLIFEOF 

upper  part  of  his  face.  "  I  find  it  difficult,"  says  the  cor 
respondent  from  whom  I  have  borrowed  this  portrait,  "  to 
describe  his  mouth ;  in  which  there  was  nothing  remarka 
ble,  except  when  about  to  express  a  modest  dissent  from 
some  opinion  on  which  he  was  commenting — he  then  had 
a  sort  of  half-smile,  in  which  the  want  of  conviction  was 
perhaps  more  strongly  expressed,  than  the  satirical  emo 
tion,  which  probably  prompted  it.  His  manner  and  ad 
dress  to  the  court  and  jury  might  be  deemed  the  excess  of 
humility,  diffidence,  and  modesty.  If,  as  rarely  happened, 
he  had  occasion  to  answer  any  remark  from  the  bench,  it 
was  impossible  for  Meekness  herself  to  assume  a  manner 
less  presumptuous — but  in  the  smile  of  which  I  have  been 
speaking,  you  might  anticipate  the  want  of  conviction,  ex 
pressed  in  his  answer,  at  the  moment  that  he  submitted  to 
the  superior  wisdom  of  the  court,  with  a  grace  that  would 
have  done  honour  to  Westminster  hall.  In  his  reply  to  coun 
sel,  his  remarks  on  the  evidence,  and  on  the  conduct  of  the 
parties,  he  preserved  the  same  distinguished  deference  and 
politeness,  still  accompanied,  however,  by  the  never-failing 
index  of  this  skeptical  smile,  where  the  occasion  prompt 
ed."  In  short,  his  features  were  manly,  bold,  and  well  pro 
portioned,  full  of  intelligence,  and  adapting  themselves  intu 
itively  to  every  sentiment  of  his  mind,  and  every  feeling  of 
his  heart.  His  voice  was  not  remarkable  for  its  sweetness  ; 
but  it  was  firm,  of  full  volume,  and  rather  melodious  than 
otherwise/Its  charms  consisted  in  the  mellowness  and  ful 
ness  of  fts  note,  the  ease  and  variety  of  its  inflections,  the 
distinctness  of  its  articulation,  the  fine  effect  of  its  emphasis, 
the  felicity  with  which  it  attuned  itself  to  every  emotion,  and 
the  vast  compass  which  enabled  it  to  range  through  the  whole 
empire  of  human  passion,  from  the  deep  and  tragic  half 


P  A  T  R  I  C  K    H  E  N  R  Y  .  429 

whisper  of  horror,  to  the  wildest  exclamation  of  overwhelm 
ing  rage.  In  mild  persuasion,  it  was  as  soft  and  gentle  as 
the  zephyr  of  spring ;  while  in  rousing  his  countrymen  to 
arms,  the  winter  storm  that  roars  along  the  troubled  Baltic, 
was  not  more  awfully  sublime.  It  was  at  all  times  perfectly 
under  his  command  ;  or  rather,  indeed,  it  seemed  to  com 
mand  itself  and  to  modulate  its  notes,  most  happily  to  the 
sentiment  he  was  uttering.  It  never  exceeded,  or  fell  short 
of  the  occasion.  There  was  none  of  that  long-continued  and 
deafening  vociferation,  which  always  takes  place  when  an 
ardent  speaker  has  lost  possession  of  himself — no  monoto 
nous  clangour,  no  discordant  shriek.  Without  being  strain 
ed,  it  had  that  body  and  enunciation  which  filled  the  most 
distant  ear,  without  distressing  those  which  were  nearest 
him  :  hence  it  never  became  cracked  or  hoarse,  even  in  his 
longest  speeches,  but  retained  to  the  last  all  its  clearness  and 
fulness  of  intonation,  all  the  delicacy  of  its  inflection,  all 
the  charms  of  its  emphasis,  and  enchanting  variety  of  itfi- 
cadence. 

His  delivery  was  perfectly  natural  and  well  timed.  It  lias 
indeed  been  said,  that,  on  his  first  rising,  there  was  a  species 
of  sub-cantus  very  observable  by  a  stranger,  and  rather  dis 
agreeable  to  him  ;  but  that  in  a  very  few  moments  even  this 
itself  became  agreeable,  and  seemed,  indeed,  indispensable  to 
the  full  effect  of  his  peculiar  diction  and  conceptions.  In 
point  of  time,  he  was  very  happy  :  there  was  no  slow  and 
heavy  dragging,  no  quaint  and  measured  drawling,  with 
equidistant  pace,  no  stumbling  and  floundering  among  the 
fractured  members  of  deranged  and  broken  periods,  nO  un 
dignified  hurry  and  trepidation,  no  recalling  and  recasting  of 
sentences  as  he  went  along,  no  retraction  of  one  word  and 
substitution  of  another  not  better,  and  none  of  those  affected 


430  WIRT's   LIFE    OF 

bursts  of  almost  inarticulate  impetuosity,  which  betray  the 
rhetorician  rather  than  display  the  orator.  On  the  contiary, 
ever  self-collected,  deliberate  and  dignified,  he  seemed  to 
have  looked  through  the  whole  period  before  he  commenced 
its  delivery  ;  and  hence  his  delivery  was  smooth,  and  firm, 
and  well  accented  ;  slow  enough  to  take  along  with  him  the 
dullest  hearer,  and  yet  so  commanding,  that  the  quick  had 
neither  the  power  nor  the  disposition  to  get  the  start  of  him. 
Thus  he  gave  to  every  thought  its  full  and  appropriate  force  ; 
and  to  every  image  all  its  radiance  and  beauty. 

No  speaker  ever  understood  better  than  Mr.  Henry,  the 
true  use  and  power  of  the  pause  :  and~"nitr "en£UjeYfir~prac«~ 
tised  it  with  happier  effect.  His  pauses  were  never  resorted 
to  for  the  purpose  of  investing  an  insignificant  thought  with 
false  importance  ;  much  less  were  they  ever  resorted  to  as  a 
finesse,  to  gain  time  for  thinking.  The  hearer  was  never 
disposed  to  ask,  "  why  that  pause  ?"  nor  to  measure  its 
duration  by  a  reference  to  his  watch.  On  the  contrary,  it 
always  came  at  the  very  moment,  when 'he  would  himself 
have  wished  it,  in  order  to  weigh  the  striking  and  important 
thought  which  had  just  been  uttered ;  and  the  interval  was 
always  filled  by  the  speaker  with  a  matchless  energy  of  look, 
which  drove  the  thought  home  through  the  mind  and  through 
the  heart. 

His  gesture,  and  this  varying  play  of  his  features  and  voice, 
were  so  excellent,  so  exquisite,  that  many  have  referred  his 
power  as  an  orator  principally  to  that  cause  ;  yet  this  was  all 
his  own,  and  his  gesture,  particularly,  of  so  peculiar  a  cast, 
that  it  is  said  it  would  have  become  no  other  man.  I  do  not 
learn  that  it  was  very  abundant;  for  there  was  no  trash 
about  it ;  none  of  those  false  motions  to  which  undisciplined 
speakers  are  so  generally  addicted ;  no  chopping  nor  sawing 


PATRICK   HENRY.  431 

of  the  air ;  no  thumping  of  the  bar  to  express  an  earnest 
ness,  which  was  much  more  powerfully,  as  well  as  more  ele 
gantly  expressed  by  his  eye  and  his  countenance.  When 
ever  he  moved  his  arm,  or  his  hand,  or  even  his  finger,  or 
changed  the  position  of  his  body,  it  was  always  to  some  pur 
pose  ;  nothing  was  inefficient ;  every  thing  told  ;  every  ges 
ture,  every  attitude,  every  look  was  emphatic ;  all  was  '  ani 
mation,  energy,  and  dignity.  Its  great  advantage  consisted  '•: 
in  this — that  various,  bold,  and  original  as  it  was,  it  never 
appeared  to  be  studied,  affected,  or  theatrical,  or  "  to  over-  f 
step,"  in  the  smallest  degree,  "  the  modesty  of  nature ;"  for  *• 
he  never  made  a  gesture,  or  assumed  an  attitude,  which  did 
not  seem  imperiously  demanded  by  the  occasion.  Every 
look,  every  motion,  every  pause,  every  start,  was  completely 
filled  and  dilated  by  the  thought  which  he  was  uttering,  and 
seemed  indeed  to  form  a  part  of  the  thought  itself.  His  ac 
tion,  however  strong,  was  never  vehement.  He  was  never 
seen  rushing  forward,  shoulder  foremost,  fury  in  his  counte 
nance,  and  phrensy  in  his  voice,  as  if  to  overturn  the  bar,  and 
charge  his,  audience  sword  in  hand.  His  judgment  was  too 
manly  and  too  solid,  and  his  taste  too  true,  to  permit  him  to 
indulge  in  any  such  extravagance.  His  good  sense  and  his 
self-possession  never  deserted  him.  In  the  loudest  storm  of  .  , 
declamation,  in  the  fiercest  blaze  of  passion,  there  was  a  dig 
nity  and  temperance  which  gave  it  seeming.  He  had  the 
rare  faculty  of  imparting  to  his  hearers  all  the  excess  of  his 
own  feelings,  and  all  the  violence  and  tumult  of  his  emo 
tions,  all  the  dauntless  spirit  of  his  resolution,  and  all  the 
energy  of  his  soul,  without  any  sacrifice  of  his  own  personal 
dignity,  and  without  treating  his  hearers  otherwise  than  as 
rational  beings.  He  was  not  the  orator  of  a  day  :  and  there- 
"ore  sought  not  to  build  his  fame  on  the  sandy  basis  of  a 


432  WIRT'SLIFEOF 

false  taste,  fostered,  if  not  created,  by  himself.  He  spoke 
for  immortality ;  and  therefore  raised  the  pillars  of  his  glorv 
on  the  only  solid  foundation — the  rock  of  Nature. 

So  much  has  been  already  said,  incidentally,  of  his  attain 
ments,  and  the  character  of  his  mind,  both  as  a  statesman 
and  an  orator,  that  little  remains  to  be  added  in  a  general 
way.     As  a  statesman,  the  quality  which  strikes  us  most  is 
his  political  intrepidity :  and  yet  it  has  sometimes  been  ob 
jected  to  him,  that  he  waited  on  every  occasion,  to  see  which 
way  the  popular  currelU  was  srtfaflg^vyjipn-^ 
terowln'mself  into  it,  and  seem  to  guide  TtTcoufse.  "Nothing 
o*rrr15er  more  incorrect :  it  would  be  easy  to  multiply  proofs  to 
tef ut6th^cEarge  ;-  —but  I  shall  corSenflnyself  with  ^a  few 
which  are  of  generaTnotoriety." 

1.  The  American  revolution  is  universally  admitted  to 
have  begun  in  the  upper  circles  of  society.  It  turned  on 
principles  too  remote  and  abstruse  for  vulgar  apprehension  or 
consideration.  Had  it  depended  on  the  unenlightened  mass 
of  the  community,  no  doubt  can  be  entertained  at  this  day, 
that  the  tax  imposed  by  parliament  would  have  been  paid 
without  a  question.  Since,  then,  the  upper  circle  of  society 
did  not  take  its  impulse  from  the  people,  the  only  remaining 
inquiry  is,  who  gave  the  revolutionary  impulse  to  that  circle 
itself?  It  was  unquestionably  Patrick  Henry.  This  is  af 
firmed  by  Mr.  Jefferson ;  it  is  demonstrated  by  the  resistance 
given  to  Mr.  Henry's  measures,  by  those  who  were  afterward 
the  stanchest  friends  of  the  revolution ;  it  is  farther  proved, 
by  the  sentiment  before  noticed,  with  which  Doctor  Franklin 
(who  was  then  considered  as  the  first  American  statesman) 
dismissed  Mr.  Ingersoll,  on  his  departure  from  London  ;  a 
sentiment,  which  evinces  beyond  doubt,  that  Doctor  Franklin 


PATRICK   HENRY.  433 

considered  resistance  to  the  British  power  to  be,  at  that  time, 
premature  ;  and  finally,  this  honour  is  assigned  to  Mr.  Henry, 
I  perceive,  by  a  late  interesting  historian  of  Massachusetts, 
the  only  state  which  has  ever  pretended  to  dispute  the  palm 
w  th  Virginia.*  On  this  great  occasion,  then,  it  is  manifest, 
that  he  did  not  wait  for  the  popular  current ;  but  on  the  con 
trary,  that  it  was  he  alone,  who,  by  his  single  power  moved 
the  mighty  mass  of  stagnant  waters,  and  changed  the  silent 
lake  into  a  roaring  torrent.  When  it  is  remembered  too,  that 
he  was  then  young  and  obscure,  and  of  course  without  per 
sonal  influence — that  this  step  was  the  result  of  his  own 
solitary  reflection,  and  that  he  was  perfectly  aware  of  the 
personal  danger  which  must  attend  it — we  can  require 
nothing  farther  to  satisfy  as,  that  he  was  a  bold,  original,  in 
dependent  politician,  who  thought  for  himself,  and  pursued 
the  dictates  of  his  own  judgment,  wholly  regardless  of  per 
sonal  consequences. 

*  The  historian  to  whom  I  allude,  is  Mrs.  Mercy  Warren,  who  is  said 
to  be  the  widow  of  the  celebrated  Gen.  Warren,  the  hero  of  Bunker's 
Hill.  These  are  her  words : — "  The  house  of  burgesses  of  Virginia 
were  the  first  who  formally  resolved  against  the  encroachments  of  pow 
er,  and  the  unwarrantable  designs  of  the  British  parliament.  The  nov 
elty  of  their  procedure,  and  the  boldness  of  spirit  that  marked  the 
resolutions  of  that  assembly,  at  once  astonished  and  disconcerted  the 
officers  of  the  crown,  and  the  supporters  of  the  measures  of  adminis 
tration.  These  resolutions  were  ushered  into  the  house  on  the  thirtieth 
of  May,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  sixty-five,  by  Patrick  Henry, 
Esq.,  a  young  gentleman  of  the  law,  till  then  unknown  in  political  life. 
He  was  a  man  possessed  of  strong  powers,  much  professional  know 
ledge,  and  of  such  abilities  as  qualified  him  for  the  exigencies  of  the 
day.  Fearless  of  the  cry  of  treason,  echoed  against  him  from  several 
quarters,  he  justified  the  measure  and  supported  the  resolves,  in  a 
speech  that  did  honour  both  to  his  understanding  and  his  patriotism," 
&c.  MRS.  WARREN'S  History  of  the  American  Revolution^  vol.  i..  p.28. 


31  37 


434  WIRT'S    LIFE    OF 

2.  Again,  in  the  spring  of  1775,  that  upper  circle,  which 
still  headed  the  revolution,  were  disposed  to  acquiesce  in  the 
plunder  of  the  magazine,  and  exerted  their  utmost  efforts  to 
allay  the  ferment  which  it  had  excited.     They  had,  in  fact, 
succeeded ;  and  the  people  were  every  where  composed,  save 
within  the  immediate  sphere  of  Mr.  Henry's  influence.    The 
reader  has  already  seen,  that  it  was  he  who  on  that  occasion 
excited  the  people,  not  who  was  excited  by  them ;  that  he 
put  them  into  motion,  and  avowed  to  his  confidential  friends, 
at  the  time,  the  motives  of  policy  by  which  he  was  actuated ; 
that  he  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  an  armed  band,  which 
he  had  himself  convened  for  the  purpose  ;  and  in  spite  of  the 
entreaties  and  supplications  of  the  patriots  at  Williamsburg, 
and  in  defiance  of  the  threats  of  Dunmore  and  his  myrmi 
dons,  pressed  firmly  and  intrepidly  on,  until  the  object  of  his 
expedition  was  completely  obtained. 

3.  So  also  in  the  state  convention,  the  same  year,  the  old 
patriotic  leaders  were  disposed  still  to  rely  on  the  efficacy  of 
petitions,  memorials,  and  remonstrances ;  it  was  Mr.  Henry 
who  proposed,  and  in  spite  of  their  opposition  (which  was  of 
so  strenuous  and  serious  a  character,  that  one  of  them  in 
making  it,  is  said  to  have  shed  tears  most  profusely)  carried 
the  bold  measure  of  arming  the  militia.     This  was  not  dic 
tated  by  the  people.     The  fact  was,  that  at  that  day,  the 
people  placed  themselves  in  the  hands  of  their  more  enlight 
ened  friends ;  they  never  ventured  to  prescribe  either  the 
time,  the  manner,  or  the  measure  of  resistance ;  and  there 
can  be  no  room  for  a  candid  doubt  that,  but  for  the  bold 
spirit  and  overpowering  eloquence   of  Patrick  Henry,  the 
people  would  have  followed  the  pacific  counsels  of  Mr.  Ran 
dolph,  Mr.  Nicholas,  Mr.  Pendleton,  Mr.  Wythe,  and  other 


PATRICK    HENRY.  435 

men  of  acknowledged  talents  and  virtue.  It  was  Mr.  Henry, 
therefore,  who  led  both  the  people  and  their  former  leaders. 
The*  latter,  indeed,  came  on  so  reluctantly  at  first,  that  they 
may  be  said  to  have  been  rather  dragged  along  than  led ; 
they  did  come,  however,  and  acquiring  warmth  by  their 
motion,  made  ample  amends  thereafter  for  their  early  hesi- 


4.  About  the  close  of  the  war,  again,  when  he  proposed 
to  permit  the  return  of  that  obnoxious  class  of  men  called 
British  refugees  and  Scotch  tories,  did  he  follow  the  popular 
current  ?     So  far  from  it,  that  he  stemmed  the  current,  and 
turned  back  its  course,  by  the  power  of  his  resistance. 

5.  So  in  the  case  of  the  federal  constitution,  whither  did 
the  current  of  the  American  people  tend  ?    Most  certainly  to 
its    adoption;    yet '  Mr.   Henry,  to   use    his   own  language, 
"  with  manly  firmness,   and   in  spite  of  an  erring  world," 

*  The  author  has  no  intention,  by  these  remarks,  to  impair  in  the 
smallest  degree,  the  well-earned  reputation  of  those  veteran  states 
men.  They  had  commenced  the  opposition  to  the  stamp  act,  and  the 
other  obnoxious  acts  of  the  British  parliament,  before  Mr.  Henry  made 
his  appearance  as  a  politician ;  they  had  commenced  it  too,  on  the 
same  grounds,  and  would,  probably,  at  some  later  period,  have  been 
wrought  up  by  their  own  principles  and  feelings,  to  a  forcible  resist 
ance  to  those  measures.  But  the  statements  in  the  text  are  unques 
tionably  correct ;  they  did  not  approve  of  the  immediate  application 
of  force;  Mr.  Henry's  policy  was  condemned  by  them  as  rash  and 
precipitate.  The  author  is  in  possession  of  an  original  letter  from 
one  of  these  statesmen,  in  which  Mr.  Henry  is  expressly  and  directly 
accused  of  having  precipitated  the  revolution,  against  the  judgment 
of  the  older  and  cooler  patriots.  "  Events,  however,"  as  we  have 
seen,  "  favoured  the  bolder  measures  of  Mr.  Henry,"  and  proved  his 
policy  to  be  the  best. 

31 


436  WIRTSLIFEOF 

with  the  revered  Washington  too  at  their  head,  opposed  its 
adoption  with  all  the  powers  of  his  eloquence. 

The  truth  seems  to  be,  that  this  charge  is  only  a  vari 
ation  of  that  conveyed  by  the  opprobrious  epithets  of  dema 
gogue  and  factious  tribune,  which  we  have  seen  that  his 
rivals  long  since  sought  to  fasten  upon  him ;  and  there  can 
be  little  doubt,  that  it  proceeded  from  the  writhings  and  con 
tortions  of  the  same  agonized  envy.  That  a  poor  young 
man,  issuing  from  his  native  woods,  unknown,  unfriended, 
and  comparatively  unlettered,  should  have  been  able,  by  the 
mere  force  of  unassisted  nature,  to  break  to  pieces  the  strong 
political  confederacy  which  then  ruled  the  country,  to  anni 
hilate  all  the  arts  and  finesse  of  parliamentary  intrigue ;  to 
eclipse,  by  his  sagacity,  the  experience  of  age  ;  and,  by  the 
sole  strength  of  his  native  genius,  to  throw  into  the  shade  all 
the  hard-earned  attainments  of  literature  and  science,  was 
entirely  too  humiliating  to  be  borne  in  silence.  It  was  neces 
sary,  therefore,  to  resort  to  some  solution  of  this  phenomenon 
which  should  at  once  reduce  the  honours  of  this  plebeian  up 
start,  and  soothe  the  wounded  feelings  of  those  whose  pride 
he  had  brought  down.  Hence  it  became  fashionable,  in  the 
higher  circles,  to  speak  of  Mr.  Henry  as  a  designing  dema 
gogue,  a  factious  tribune,  who  carried  his  points,  not  by 
fair  and  open  debate,  but  by  violent  and  inflammatory  ap 
peals  to  the  worst  passions  of  the  multitude ;  and  who  fre 
quently  gave  himself  the  air  of  leading  the  people,  when  in 
truth,  he  was  merely  following  their  own  blind  lead.  This 
cant  has  had  its  day,  and  its  propagators.  Truth  has  set 
the  subject  to  rights.  Mr.  Henry  is  alleged,  by  those  who 
had  the  best  opportunities  of  knowing  him,  to  have  been  not 
inferior,  either  in  public  or  in  private  virtue,  to  any  patriot  of 
the  revolution :  and  he  was  confessedly  superior  to  them  all 


PATRICK     HENRY.  437 

in  that  combination  of  bold,  hardy,  adventurous,  splendid, 
and  solici  qualifications,  which  are  so  peculiarly  fitted  to 
revolutionary  times. 

X"**  He  left,"  says  Judge  Winston,  "  no  manuscripts."  This 
was  to  have  been  expected.  We  have  seen  that  he  could 
not  bear  the  labour  of  writing ;  nor,  indeed,  of  that  long-con 
tinued,  coherent,  and  methodical  thinking,  without  which  no 
successful  composition,  of  any  extent,  can  be  produced.  He 
thought,  indeed,  a  great  deal ;  but  his  thinking  was  too  de 
sultory  and  irregular  to  take  the  form  of  composition.  His 
mind  had  never  been  disciplined  to  wait  upon  his  pen — it 
still  moved  on — and  its  prismatic  beauties  were  as  evanes 
cent  as  they  were  beautiful.  His  imagination  "  bodied  forth 
the  forms  of  things"  much  more  rapidly,  than  his  unpractised 
pen  could  "  turn  them  to  shapes ;"  and  it  is  not  improbable, 
that  his  own  observation  of  the  difference  between  the  vigour 
with  which  he  thought,  and  the  comparative  decrepitude 
with  which  he  wrote,  disgusted  him  with  his  first  attempts, 
and  prevented  their  repetition. 

Yet  this  habit  which  he  had  of  thinking  for  himself,  and 
looking  directly  at  every  subject,  with  the  natural  eyes  of  his 
understanding,  without  using  what  has  been  called  the  spec 
tacles  of  books,  was  perhaps  of  advantage  to  him,  both  as  a 
statesman  and  an  orator  :  as  a  statesman,  it  possibly  exempt 
ed  him  from  that  common  error  of  scientific  theorists,  of 
forcing  resemblances  between  the  present  and  some  past  his 
torical  era,  and  accomodating  their  measures  to  this  ima 
ginary  identity;  by  his  mode  of  considering  subjects,  no 
circumstance  was  either  sunk,  or  magnified,  or  distorted,  in 
order  to  bend  the  case  to  a  fanciful  hypothesis  ;  nor,  in  deci 
ding  what  was  proper  to  be  done  in  America,  did  he  look  to 
see  what  had  been  found  expedient  at  Athens  or  Rome.  On 

37* 


438  WIRT  S    LIFE     OF 

the  contrary,  knowing  well  the  people  with  whom  he  had  to 
deal,  of  what  they  were  capable,  and  what  was  necessary 
to  their  happiness,  how  much  they  could  bear,  and  how  much 
achieve,  and  looking  immediately  at  the  subject,  (whatever 
it  might  be,)  with  that  piercing  vision,  that  solid  judgment 
and  ready  resource,  which  characterized  his  mind — he  seem 
ed  to  seize,  in  every  case,  rather  "  luckily  than  laboriously," 
the  course  which  of  all  others  was  surest  of  success.  In 
short,  this  habit  made  him  an  original,  sound,  and  practical 
statesman,  instead  of  being  a  learned,  dreaming,  and  vision 
ary  theorist.  Not  that  Mr.  Henry  was  deficient  in  historical 
knowledge ;  he  had  enough  of  it  for  all  the  useful  purposes 
either  of  analogy  or  illustration ;  but  he  never  permitted  it 
to  intercept  his  proper  view  of  the  subject,  or  to  take  the  lead 
in  suggesting  what  was  fit  to  be  done.  This  he  chose  ra 
ther  to  derive  from  the  nature  of  the  case  itself,  and  the 
character  of  the  people  among  whom  that  case  occurred. 

This  habit  of  relying  more  on  his  own  meditations  than 
on  books,  was  also,  perhaps,  of  service  to  him  as  an  orator : 
for  by  this  course,  he  avoided  the  beaten  paths  and  roads  of 
thought ;  and  instead  of  exhibiting  in  his  speeches  old  ideas 
newly  vamped  up,  and  ancient  beauties  trickled  off  in 
modern  tinsel,  his  arguments,  sentiments,  and  figures,  had 
all  that  freshness  and  novelty  which  are  so  universally  cap 
tivating. 

In  what  did  his  peculiar  excellence  as  an  orator  consist  ? 
in  what  consisted  that  unrivalled  power  of  speaking,  which 
all  who  ever  heard  him  admit  him  to  have  possessed  ?  The 
reader  is  already  apprized,  that  the  author  of  these  sketches 
never  had  the  advantage  of  hearing  Mr.  Henry,  and  that  no 
entire  speech  of  his  was  ever  extant,  either  in  print  or  wri 
ting  :  hence,  there  are  no  materials  for  minute  and  exact 


PA  Till  CK     HENRY.  439 

analysis.  The  inquiry,  however,  is  natural,  and  has  been  di 
rected,  without  success,  to  many  of  the  most  discriminating 
of  Mr.  Henry's  admirers.  Their  answers  are  as  various  as 
the  complexion  of  their  own  characters  ;  each  preferring  that 
property  from  which  he  had  himself  derived  the  most  enjoy 
ment.  Some  ascribe  his  excellence  wholly  to  his  manner : 
others,  in  great  part,  to  the  originality  and  soundness  of  his 
matter.  And  among  the  admirers,  in  both  classes,  there  are 
not  two  who  concur  in  assigning  the  pre-eminence  to  the 
same  quality.  Of  his  matter,  one  will  admire  the  plainness 
and  strength  of  his  reasoning;  another,  the  concentrated 
spirit  of  his  aphorisms  ;  a  third,  his  wit ;  a  fourth,  his  pathos ; 
a  fifth,  the  intrinsic  beauty  of  his  imagination  :  so  in  regard 
to  his  manner,  one  will  place  his  excellence  in  his  articula 
tion  and  emphasis  ;  a  second,  in  the  magic  power  with  which 
he  infused  the  tones  of  his  voice  into  the  nerves  of  his  hear 
ers,  and  riveted  their  attention.  The  truth,  therefore,  proba 
bly  is,  that  it  was  not  in  any  single  charm,  either  of  matter 
or  manner,  that  we  are  to  look  for  the  secret  of  his  power ; 
but  that,  like  Pope's  definition  of  beauty,  it  was  "  the  joint 
force  and  full  result  of  all." 

If,  however,  we  are  to  consider  as  really  and  entirely  his, 
those   speeches  which  have  been  already  given  in  his  name 
to  the  public,  or  are  now  prepared  for  them,  there  can  be  no      / 
difficulty  in  deciding,  that  his  power  must  have  consisted    v 
principally  in  his  delivery.     We  know  what  extraordinary 
effects  have  been  produced  by  the  mere  manner  of  an  orator, 
without  any  uncommon  weight  or  worth  of  matter.*     We 

*  "  Friar  Narni,  a  capuchin,  was  so  remarkable  for  his  eloquence, 
that  his  hearers,  after  a  sermon,  cried  out  mercy  in  the  streets,  as  he 
passed  home :  and  thirty  bishops,  starting  up  under  a  discourse,  hur 
ried  home  to  their  respective  diocesses :  yet,  when  his  sermons  came  to 


440  WIRT'S   LIFE  OF 

have  the  authority,  however,  of  those  who  heard  the  identical 
speeches  now  professed  to  be  given  as  his,  for  declaring,  that 
they  are  an  extremely  imperfect  representation  of  them ; 
and  their  ability  to  correct  them  so  frequently  from  memory, 
establishes  the  fact,  that  it  was  not  the  charm  of  delivery 
merely,  which  constituted  the  difference  between  the  report 
and  the  original.  This  is  not  the  only  instance  in  which 
a  great  orator  has  been  injured,  by  imperfect  attempts  to 
represent  him :  for  (to  say  nothing  of  those  modern  proofs, 
which  will  easily  occur  to  the  reader)  we  are  told,  that  the 
great  Pericles  himself  met  with  a  similar  fate.*  Candour 
and  justice,  however,  require  us  to  repeat,  that  Mr.  Robert 
son's  reports  are  unquestionable,  in  point  of  good  faith ;  and 
that  they  are  highly  valuable,  on  account  of  the  accuracy  and 
fidelity  with  which  they  are  believed  to  have  preserved  the 
substance  of  the  debates.  It  is  with  extreme  regret  that  the 
author  has  made  a  single  comment  to  their  disadvantage  ;  but 
justice  to  Mr.  Henry  has  made  it  indispensable. 

The  basis  of  Mr.  Henry's  intellectual  character  was  strong 
natural  sense.  His  knowledge  of  human  nature  was,  as 
we  have  seen,  consummate.  His  wisdom  was  that  of  obser 
vation,  rather  than  of  reading.  His  fancy,  although  suffi 
ciently  pregnant  to  furnish  supplies  for  the  occasion,  was  not 

be  published,  they  were  thought  to  be  unworthy  of  his  reputation ; 
which  shows  how  much  depends  on  action  ;  and  how  correct  the  say 
ing  of  Demosthenes  was  on  that  subject." — BAYLE.  Article  Narni. 

*  "  Some  harangues  of  Pericles  were  still  extant  in  Q,uintilian's 
time ;  but  that  learned  rhetorician,  finding  them  disproportioned  to 
the  high  reputation  of  this  great  man,  approved  the  opinion  of  those 
who  looked  upon  them  as  a  supposititious  work.  An  indifferent 
harangue,  however,  being  recited  by  an  excellent  orator,  may  charm 
the  hearers.  Action  is  almost  all." — BAYLE.  Article  Pericles. 


PATRICK    HENRY.  441 

so  exuberant  as  to  oppress  him  with  its  productions.  He  was 
never  guilty  of  the  fault,  with  which  Corinna  is  said  to  have 
reproached  her  rival  Pindar,  of  pouring  his  vase  of  flowers 
all  at  once  upon  the  ground ;  on  the  contrary,  their  beauty 
and  their  excellence  were  fully  observed,  from  their  rarity, 
and  the  happiness  with  which  they  were  distributed  through 
his  speeches.  His  feelings  were  strong,  yet  completely  under 
his  command ;  they  rose  up  to  the  occasion,  but  were  never 
suffered  to  overflow  it;  his  language  was  often  careless, 
sometimes  incorrect ;  yet  upon  the  whole  it  was  pure  and 
perspicuous,  giving  out  his  thoughts  in  full  and  clear  propor 
tion  ;  free  from  affectation,  and  frequently  beautiful ;  strong 
without  effort,  and  adapted  to  the  occasion  ;  nervous  in  argu 
ment,  burning  in  passion,  and  capable  of  matching  the  lof 
tiest  flights  of  his  genius. 

It  may  perhaps  assist  the  reader's  conception  of  Mr.  Hen 
ry's  peculiar  cast  of  eloquence,  to  state  the  points  in  which 
he  differed  from  some  other  orators.  Those  which  distin 
guished  him  from  Mr.  Lee  have  been  already  exhibited. 
Colonel  Innis's  manner  was  also  very  different.  His  habitual 
indolence  followed  him  into  debate ;  he  generally  contented 
himself  with  a  single  view  of  his  subject ;  but  that  was 
given  with  irresistible  power.  His  eloquence  was  indeed  a 
mighty  and  a  roaring  torrent ;  it  had  not,  however,  that  prop 
erty  of  Horace's  stream,  labitur  et  labetur,  in  omne  volu- 
bilis  cevum — on  the  contrary,  it  commonly  ran  by  in  half 
an  hour.  But  it  bore  a  striking  resemblance  to  the  eloquence 
of  Lord  Chatham ;  it  was  a  short  but  bold  and  most  terrible 
assault — a  vehement,  impetuous  and  overwhelming  burst — 
a  magnificent  meteor,  which  shot  majestically  across  the 
heavens,  from  pole  to  pole,  and  straight  expired  in  a  glorious 
blaze. 
3K 


442  WI  R  T'S    L  I  F  E    0  F 

Mr.  Henry,  on  the  contrary,  however  indolent  in  his  gene 
ral  life,  was  never  so  in  debate,  where  the  occasion  called  for 
exertion.  He  rose  against  the  pressure,  with  the  most  un 
conquerable  perseverance.  He  held  his  subject  up  in  every 
light  in  which  it  could  be  placed  ;  yet  always  with  so  much 
power,  and  so  much  beauty,  a'"  never  to  weary  his  audience, 
but  on  the  contrary  to  delight  them.  He  had  more  art  than 
Col.  Innis :  he  appealed  to  every  motive  of  interest — urged 
every  argument  that  could  convince — pressed  every  theme 
of  persuasion — awakened  every  feeling,  and  roused  every 
passion  to  his  aid.  He  had  more  variety,  too,  in  his  manner  ; 
sometimes  he  was  very  little  above  the  tone  of  conversation ; 
at  others,  in  the  highest  strain  of  epic  sublimity.  His  course 
was  of  longer  continuance — his  flights  better  sustained,  and 
more  diversified,  both  in  their  direction,  and  velocity.  He 
rose  like  the  thunder-bearer  of  Jove",  when  he  mounts  on 
strong  and  untiring  wing,  to  sport  in  fearless  majesty  over 
the  troubled  deep — now  sweeping  in  immense  and  rapid  cir 
cles — then  suddenly  arresting  his  grand  career,  and  hover 
ing  aloft  in  tremulous  and  terrible  suspense — at  one  instant, 
plunged  amid  the  foaming  waves — at  the  next,  reascending 
on  high,  to  play  undaunted  among  the  lightnings  of  heaven, 
or  soar  toward  the  sun. 

He  differed,  too,  from  those  orators  of  Great  Britain,  with 
whom  we  have  become  acquainted  by  their  printed  speeches. 
He  had  not  the  close  method,  and  high  polish  of  those  of 
England;  nor  the  exuberant  imagery  which  distinguishes 
those  of  Ireland.  On  the  contrary,  he  was  loose,  irregular,  de 
sultory — sometimes  rough  and  abrupt — careless  in  connect 
ing  the  parts  of  his  discourse,  but  grasping  whatever  he 
touched  with  gigantic  strength.  In  short,  he  was  the  ORA- 


PATRICK    HENRY.  443 

TOR  OF  NATURE  ;  and  such  a  one  as  Nature  might  not  blush 
to  avow. 

If  the  reader  shall  still  demand  how  he  acquired  those 
wonderful  powers  of  speaking  which  have  been  assigned  to 
him,  we  can  only  answer,  with  Gray,  that  they  were  the 
gift  of  Heaven — the  birthright  of  genius. 

"  Thine  too,  these  keys,  immortal  boy ! 
This  can  unlock  the  gates  of  joy ; 
Of  horror,  that,  and  thrilling  fears, 
Or  ope  the  sacred  source  of  sympathetic  tears.'' 

It  has  been  said  of  Mr.  Henry,*  with  inimitable  felicity, 
that  "  he  was  SHAKSPEARE  and  GARRICK  COMBINED  !"  Let 
the  reader  then  imagine  the  wonderful  talents  of  those  two 
men  united  in  the  same  individual,  and  transferred  from 
scenes  of  fiction  to  the  business  of  real  life,  and  he  will 
have  formed  some  conception  of  the  eloquence  of  Patrick 
Henry.  /  In  a  word,  he  was  one  of  those  perfect  prodigies  of 
Nature,  of  whom  very  few  have  been  produced  since  the 
foundations  of  the  earth  were  laid ;  and  of  him  may  it  be 
said,  as  truly  as  of  any  one  that  ever  existed  : — 

'  He  was  a  man,  take  him  for  all  in  all, 
We  ne'er  shtill  look  upon  his  like  again." 

*  By  Mr.  John  Randolph,  of  Roanoke. 


THE    E.ND. 


APPENDIX. 


NOTE    A. 

IT  appears  by  the  journal  of  the  house  of  burgesses,  of  the  14th 
November,  1764,  (page  38,)  that  a  committee  was  appointed 
to  draw  up  the  following  address,  memorial,  and  remonstrance  ; 
which  committee  was  composed  of  the  following  persons,  to  wit : 
Mr.  Attorney,  (Peyton  Randolph,)  Mr.  Richard  Henry  Lee,  Mr. 
Landon  Carter,  Mr.  Wythe,  Mr.  Edmund  Pendleton,  Mr.  Benja 
min  Harrison,  Mr.  Gary,  and  Mr.  Fleming,  to  whom,  afterward, 
Mr.  Bland  was  added.  The  address  to  the  king  is  from  the  pen 
of  the  attorney.* 

"  To  the  King's  most  excellent  Majesty. 
"  Most  Gracious  Sovereign, 

"  We,  your  majesty's  dutiful  and  loyal  subjects,  the  council 
and  burgesses  of  your  ancient  colony  and  dominion  of  Virginia, 
now  met  in  general  assembly,  beg  leave  to  assure  your  majesty  of 
our  firm  and  inviolable  attachment  to  your  sacred  person  and  gov 
ernment  ;  and  as  your  faithful  subjects  here  have  at  all  times  been 
zealous  to  demonstrate  this  truth,  by  a  ready  compliance  with  the 

*  On  the  authority  of  Mr.  Jefferson. 


448  APPENDIX. 

royal  requisitions  during  the  late  war,  by  which  a  heavy  and  op 
pressive  debt  of  near  half  a  million  hath  been  incurred,  so  at  this 
time  they  implore  permission  to  approach  the  throne  with  humble 
confidence,  and  to  entreat  that  your  majesty  will  be  graciously 
pleased  to  protect  our  people  of  this  colony  in  the  enjoyment  of 
their  ancient  and  inestimable  right  of  being  governed  by  such  laws, 
respecting  their  internal  polity  and  taxation,  as  are  derived  from 
their  own  consent,  with  the  approbation  of  their  sovereign  or  his 
substitute :  a  right  which,  as  men,  and  descendants  of  Britons, 
they  have  ever  quietly  possessed,  since,  first  by  royal  permission 
and  encouragement,  they  left  the  mother  kingdom  to  extend  its 
commerce  and  dominion. 

"  Your  majesty's  dutiful  subjects  of  Virginia  most  humbly  and 
unanimously  hope,  that  this  invaluable  birthright,  descended  to 
them  from  their  ancestors,  and  in  which  they  have  been  protected 
by  your  royal  predecessors,  will  not  be  suffered  to  receive  an 
injury  under  the  reign  of  your  sacred  majesty,  already  so  illustri 
ously  distinguished  by  your  gracious  attention  to  the  liberties  of 
the  people. 

"  That  your  majesty  may  long  live  to  make  nations  happy,  is 
the  ardent  prayer  of  your  faithful  subjects,  the  council  and  bur 
gesses  of  Virginia" 

The  author  cannot  learn  who  drew  the  following  memorial ;  but 
from  the  style  of  the  composition,  compared  with  the  members  of 
the  committee,  and  the  distribution  of  its  other  labours,  he  thinks  it 
probable  that  it  was  Mr.  Peridleton  ;  possibly  Mr.  Bland. 


APPENDIX.  449 

"  To  the  Right  Honourable  the  Lords  Spiritual  and  Temporal, 

in  Parliament  assembled : — 
•'  The  Manorial  of  the  Council  and  Burgesses  of  Virginia,  now 

met  in  General  Assembly. 
"  HUMBLY  REPRESENTS, 

"  That  your  memorialists  hope  an  application  to  your  lord 
ships,  the  fixed  and  hereditary  guardians  of  British  liberty,  will 
not  be  thought  improper  at  this  time,  when  measures  are  propos 
ed,  subversive,  as  they  conceive,  of  that  freedom,  which  all  men, 
especially  those  who  derive  their  constitution  from  Britain,  have 
a  right  to  enjoy  ;  and  they  flatter  themselves  that  your  lordships 
will  not  look  upon  them  as  objects  so  unworthy  your  attention,  as 
to  regard  any  impropriety  in  the  form  or  manner  of  their  applica 
tion,  for  your  lordships'  protection,  of  their  just  and  undoubted 
rights  as  Britons. 

"  It  cannot  be  presumption  in  your  memorialists  to  call  them 
selves  by  this  distinguished  name,  since  they  are  descended 
from  Britons,  who  left  their  native  country  to  extend  its  territory 
and  dominion,  and  who,  happily  for  Britain,  and  as  your  me 
morialists  once  thought,  for  themselves  too,  effected  this  purpose. 
As  our  ancestors  brought  with  them  every  right  and  privilege 
they  could  wi  i  justice  claim  in  their  mother  kingdom,  their  de 
scendants  may  conclude,  they  cannot  be  deprived  of  those  rights 
without  injustice. 

"  Your  memorialists  conceive  it  to  be  a  fundamental  principle 

of  the  British  constitution,  wit'hout  which  freedom  can  nowhere 

exist,  that  the  people  are  not  subject  to  any  taxes  but  such  as  are 

laid  on  them  by  their  own  consent  or  by  those  who  are  legally 

3  L  38* 


450  APPENDIX. 

appointed  to  represent  them  :  property  must  become  too  precari 
ous  for  the  genius  of  a  free  people  which  can  be  taken  from  them 
at  the  will  of  others,  who  cannot  know  what  taxes  such  people  can 
bear,  or  the  easiest  mode  of  raising  them  ;  arid  who  are  not  under 
that  restraint,  which  is  the  greatest  security  against  a  burdensome 
taxation,  when  the  representatives  themselves  must  be  affected  by 
every  tax  imposed  on  the  people. 

"  Your  memorialists  are  therefore  led  into  an  humble  confi 
dence,  that  your  lordships  will  not  think  any  reason  sufficient  to 
support  such  a  power,  in  the  British  parliament,  where  the  colo 
nies  cannot  be  represented  :  a  power  never  before  constitutionally 
assumed,  and  which,  if  they  have  a  right  to  exercise  on  any  occa 
sion,  must  necessarily  establish  this  melancholy  truth,  that  the  in 
habitants  of  the  colonies  are  the  slaves  of  Britons  from  whom 
they  are  descended  ;  and  from  whom  they  might  expect  every 
indulgence  that  the  obligations  of  interest  and  affection  can  enti 
tle  them  to. 

"  Your  memorialists  have  been  invested  with  the  right  of  taxing 
their  own  people  from  the  first  establishment  of  a  regular  govern 
ment  in  the  colony,  and  requisitions  have  been  constantly  made  to 
them  by  their  sovereigns,  on  all  occasions  when  the  assistance  of 
the  colony  was  thought  necessary  to  preserve  the  British  interest 
in  America ;  from  whence  they  must  conclude  they  cannot  now 
be  deprived  of  a  right  they  have  so  long  enjoyed,  and  which  they 
have  never  forfeited. 

"  The  expenses  incurred  during  the  last  war,  in  compliance 
with  the  demands  on  this  colony  by  our  late  and  present  most 
gracious  sovereigns,  have  involved  us  in  a  debt  of  near  half  a  mil- 


APPENDIX.  451 

lion,  a  debt  not  likely  to  decrease  under  the  continued  expense  we 
are  at,  in  providing  for  the  security  of  the  people  against  the  in 
cursions  of  our  savage  neighbours  ;  at  a  time  when  the  low  statr 
of  our  staple  commodity,  the  total  want  of  specie,  and  the  late 
restrictions  upon  the  trade  of  the  colonies,  render  the  circumstan 
ces  of  the  people  extremely  distressful ;  and  which;  if  taxes  are 
accumulated  upon  them  by  the  British  parliament,  will  make  them 
truly  deplorable. 

"  Your  memorialists  cannot  suggest  to  themselves  any  reason 
why  they  should  not  still  be  trusted  with  the  property  of  their  peo 
ple,  with  whose  abilities,  and  the  least  burdensome  mode  of  tax 
ing,  (with  great  deference  to  the  superior  wisdom  of  parliament,) 
they  must  be  best  acquainted. 

"  Your  memorialists  hope  they  phall  not  be  suspected  of  being 
actuated,  on  this  occasion,  by  any  principles  but  those  of  the  pur 
est  loyalty  and  affection,  as  they  always  endeavoured  by  their  con 
duct  to  demonstrate,  that  they  consider  their  connexion  with  Great 
Britain,  the  seat  of  liberty,  as  their  greatest  happiness. 

"  The  duty  they  owe  to  themselves  and  their  posterity,  lays 
your  memorialists  under  the  necessity  of  endeavouring  to  estab 
lish  their  constitution  upon  its  proper  foundation  ;  and  they  do 
most  humbly  pray  your  lordships  to  take  this  subject  into  your 
consideration  with  the  attention  that  is  due  to  the  well-being  of 
the  colonies,  on  which  the  prosperity  of  Great  Britain  does,  in  a 
great  measure,  depend." 

Mr.  Wythe  was  the  author  of  the  following  remonstrance. 
"  It  was  done  with  so  much  freedom,  that,  as  he  told  me 
himself,  his  colleagues  of  the  committee  shrunk  from  it  as  wear- 


452  APPENDIX. 

ing  the  aspect  of  treason,  and  smoothed  its  features  to  its  present 
form."* 

"  To   the  Honourable   the  Knights,  Citizens,  and  Burgesses  of 

Great  Britain,  in  Parliament  assembled : — 
"  The  Remonstrance  of  the  Council  and  Burgesses  of  Virginia. 

"  It  appearing,  by  the  printed  votes  of  the  house  of  commons 
of  Great  Britain  in  parliament  assembled,  that  in  a  committee  of 
the  whole  house  the  17th  day  of  March,  last,  it  was  resolved,  that 
toward  defending,  protecting,  and  securing  the  British  colonies 
and  plantations  in  America,  it  may  be  proper  to  charge  certain 
stamp  duties  in  the  said  colonies  and  plantations  ;  and  it  being 
apprehended  that  the  same  subject,  which  was  then  declined,  may 
be  resumed  and  further  pursued  in  a  succeeding  session,  the  coun 
cil  and  burgesses  of  Virginia,  met  in  general  assembly,  judge  it 
their  indispensable  duty,  in  a  respectful  manner,  but  with  decent 
firmness,  to  remonstrate  against  such  a  measure  ;  that  at  least  a 
cession  of  those  rights,  which  in  their  opinion  must  be  infringed 
by  that  procedure,  may  not  be  inferred  from  their  silence,  at  so 
important  a  crisis. 

"  They  conceive  it  is  essential  to  British  liberty,  that  laws, 
imposing  taxes  on  the  people,  ought  not  to  be  made  without  the 
consent  of  representatives  chosen  by  themselves  ;  who,  at  the 
same  time  that  they  are  acquainted  with  the  circumstances  of 
their  constituents,  sustain  a  portion  of  the  burden  laid  on  them. 
The  privileges,  inherent  in  the  persons  who  discovered  and  set 
tled  these  regions,  could  not  be  renounced  or  forfeited  by  their 

*  Mr.  Jefferson. 


APPENDIX.  453 

removal  hither,  not  as  vagabonds  or  fugitives,  but  licensed  and 
encouraged  by  their  prince,  and  animated  with  a  laudable  de 
sire  of  enlarging  the  British  dominion,  and  extending  its  com 
merce  :  on  the  contrary,  it  was  secured  to  them  and  their  de 
scendants,  with  all  other  rights  and  immunities  of  British  subjects, 
by  a  royal  charter,  which  hath  been  invariably  recognised  and 
confirmed  by  his  majesty  and  his  predecessors,  in  their  com 
missions  to  the  several  governors,  granting  a  power,  and  prescrib 
ing  a  form  of  legislation  ;  according  to  which,  laws  for  the  ad 
ministration  of  justice,  and  for  the  welfare  and  good  government 
of  the  colony,  have  been  hitherto  enacted  by  the  governor,  coun 
cil,  and  general  assembly  ;  and  to  them,  requisitions  and  applica 
tions  for  supplies  have  been  directed  by  the  crown.  As  an  in 
stance  of  the  opinion  which  former  sovereigns  entertained  of  these 
rights  and  privileges,  we  beg  leave  to  refer  to  three  acts  of  the 
general  assembly,  passed  in  the  32d  year  of  the  reign  of  King 
Charles  II.,  (one  of  which  is  entitled  '  An  act  for  raising  a  public 
revenue  for  the  better  support  of  the  government  of  his  majesty's  col 
ony  of  Virginia?  imposing  several  duties  for  that  purpose,)  which 
being  thought  absolutely  necessary,  were  prepared  in  England, 
and  sent  over  by  their  then  governor,  the  lord  Culpcper,  to  be 
passed  by  the  general  assembly,  with  a  full  power  to  give  the  royal 
assent  thereto  ;  and  which  were  accordingly  passed,  after  several 
amendments  were  made  to  them  here  :  thus  tender  was  his  ma 
jesty  of  the  rights  of  his  American  subjects  ;  and  the  remonstrants 
do  not  discern  by  what  distinction  they  can  be  deprived  of  that  sa 
cred  birthright  and  most  valuable  inheritance  by  their  fellow-sub 
jects,  nor  with  what  propriety  they  can  be  taxed  or  affected  in  their 
3L 


454  APPENDIX. 

estates,  by  the  parliament,  wherein  they  are  not,  and  indeed  can 
not,  constitutionally,  be  represented. 

"  And  if  it  were  proper  for  the  parliament  to  impose  taxes  on 
the  colonies  at  all,  which  the  remonstrants  take  leave  to  think 
would  be  inconsistent  with  the  fundamental  principles  of  the 
constitution,  the  exercise  of  that  power,  at  this  time,  would  be 
ruinous  to  Virginia,  who  exerted  herself  in  the  late  war,  it  is 
feared  beyond  her  strength,  insomuch  that  to  redeem  the  money 
granted  for  that  exigence,  her  people  are  taxed  for  several  years 
to  come  ;  this,  with  the  larger  expenses  incurred  for  defending 
the  frontiers  against  the  restless  Indians,  who  have  infested  her 
as  much  since  the  peace  as  before,  is  so  grievous,  that  an  in 
crease  of  the  burthen  would  be  intolerable  ;  especially  as  the  peo 
ple  are  very  greatly  distressed  already  from  the  scarcity  of  circu 
lating  cash  amongst  them,  and  from  the  little  value  of  their  staple 
at  the  British  markets. 

"  And  it  is  presumed,  that  adding  to  that  load  which  the  colony 
now  labours  under,  will  not  be  more  oppressive  to  her  people 
than  destructive  of  the  interest  of  Great  Britain  :  for  the  planta 
tion  trade,  confined  as  it  is  to  the  mother-country,  hath  been  a 
principal  means  of  multiplying  and  enriching  her  inhabitants  ; 
and,  if  not  too  much  discouraged,  may  prove  an  inexhaustible 
source  of  treasure  to  the  nation.  For  satisfaction  in  this  point, 
let  the  present  state  of  the  British  fleets  and  trade  be  compared 
with  what  they  were  before  the  settlement  of  the  colonies  ;  and 
let  it  be  considered,  that  whilst  property  in  land  may  be  acquired 
on  very  easy  terms,  in  the  vast  uncultivated  territory  of  North 
America,  the  colonists  will  be  mostly,  if  not  wholly,  employed  in 
agriculture  ;  whereby  the  exportation  of  their  commodities  to 
Great  Britain,  and  the  consumption  of  manufactures  supplied  from 


APPENDIX.  455 

thence,  will  be  daily  increasing.  But  this  most  desirable  con 
nexion  between  Great  Britain  and  her  colonies,  supported  by 
such  a  happy  intercourse  of  reciprocal  benefits  as  is  continually 
advancing  the  prosperity  of  both,  must  be  interrupted,  if  the  peo 
ple  of  the  latter,  reduced  to  extreme  poverty,  should  be  compelled 
to  manufacture  those  articles  they  have  been  hitherto  furnished 
with  from  the  former. 

'  From  these  considerations,  it  is  hoped  that  the  honourable 
house  of  commons  will  not  prosecute  a  measure  which  those 
who  may  suffer  under  it  cannot  but  look  upon  as  fitter  for  exiles 
driven  from  their  native  country,  after  ignominiously  forfeiting 
her  favours  and  protection,  than  for  the  posterity  of  Britons, 
who  have  at  all  times  been  forward  to  demonstrate  all  due  rever 
ence  to  the  mother-kingdom  ;  and  are  so  instrumental  in  promo 
ting  her  glory  and  felicity  ;  and  that  British  patriots  will  never 
consent  to  the  exercise  of  any  anti-constitutional  power  which,  even 
in  this  remote  corner,  may  be  dangerous  in  its  example  to  the  in 
terior  parts  of  the  British  empire,  and  will  certainly  be  detrimen 
tal  to  its  commerce." 


NOTE   B. 

Council  Chamber,  October  17th,  1785. 

SIR — Since  the  last  session  of  assembly.  I  have  received  sun 
dry  acts,  resolutions,  and  other  communications  from  congress, 
which  I  transmit  to  the  general  assembly,  marked  No.  1,  and 
which  will  claim  the  attention  of  the  legislature,  according  to  their 
nature  and  importance,  respectively. 

The  execution  of  the  militia  law  hath  caused  much  embarrass- 


456  APPENDIX 

nient  to  the  executive.  Compelled  to  name  all  the  fit  Id  officers 
throughout  the  state,  and  possessing  sufficient  information  as  to 
the  fitness  of  individuals  for  these  offices  in  a  few  counties  only, 
they  were  constrained  to  search  out  proper  persons,  by  such 
means  as  accident  furnished,  and  by  letters  addressed  to  the  seve 
ral  counties.  In  some  instances,  the  gentleman  to  whom  they 
were  addressed,  refused  to  give  any  information.  In  many  oth 
ers,  the  answers  came  too  late  to  avail ;  the  law  directing  the 
commissions  to  issue  the  first  of  April.  In  this  situation,  the 
business  has  been  conducted:  and  from  a  partial  knowledge  of 
characters  in  some  counties,  and  a  total  ignorance  of  them  in 
others,  I  am  sensible  many  who  are  worthy  of  command  have 
been  passed  by,  and  others  less  fit  for  office  may  have  been 
commissioned.  And  notwithstanding  a  close  attention  has  been 
given  to  this  business,  many  of  the  counties  have  not  yet  been 
officered,  for  want  of  the  recommendations  of  captains  and  sub 
alterns. 

Finding  that  the  arms  and  ammunition  directed  to  be  purchas 
ed,  could  not  be  procured  except  from  beyond  the  sea,  applica 
tion  has  been  made  by  me  to  Mr.  Jefferson  and  the  Marquis  de 
la  Fayette,  requesting  their  assistance  to  Mr.  Barclay,  (who  was 
commissioned  to  make  the  purchase,)  in  accomplishing  this  im 
portant  work  ;  and  I  have  the  satisfaction  to  find,  that  the  affair  is 
in  such  a  train  as  to  promise  the  speedy  arrival  of  these  much- 
wanted  articles.  For  more  full  information  respecting  this  trans 
action,  1  send  you  sundry  letters,  (No.  2,)  by  one  of  which  you 
will  see  that  our  noble  friend  the  marquis  offers  us  his  service?,  if 
there  shall  be  occasion  for  them. 

I  transmit,  herewith,  a  letter  from  the  honourable  Mr.  Hardy 
covering  a  memorial  to  congress  from  sundry  inhabitants  of  Wash- 


APPENDIX.  457 

ington  county,  praying  the  establishment  of  an  independent  state, 
to  be  bounded  as  is  therein  expressed.  The  proposed  limits  in 
clude  a  vast  extent  of  country  in  which  we  have  numerous  and 
very  respectable  settlements,  which,  in  their  growth,  will  form 
an  invaluable  barrier  between  this  country  and  those  who,  in  the 
course  of  events,  may  occupy  the  vast  plains  westward  of  the 
mountains,  some  of  whom  may  have  views  incompatible  with  our 
safety.  Already  the  militia  of  that  part  of  the  state  is  among  the 
most  respectable  we  have  :  and  by  these  means  it  is,  that  the 
neighbouring  Indians  are  awed  into  professions  of  friendship. 
But  a  circumstance  has  lately  happened,  which  renders  the  pos 
session  of  that  territory,  at  the  present  time,  indispensable  to  the 
peace  and  safety  of  Virginia  :  I  mean  the  assumption  of  sovereign 
power  by  the  western  inhabitants  of  North  Carolina.  If  these 
people,  who,  without  consulting  their  own  safety  or  any  other  au 
thority  known  in  the  American  constitution,  have  assumed  govern 
ment,  and  while  unallied  to  us,  and  under  no  engagements  to  pur- 
sue  the  objects  of  the  federal  government,  they  shall  be  strength 
ened  by  the  accession  of  so  great  a  part  of  our  country,  consequen 
ces  fatal  to  our  repose  will  probably  follow.  It  is  to  be  observed, 
that  the  settlements  of  this  new  society  stretch  on  to  great  extent 
in  contact  with  ours  in  Washington  county,  and  thereby  expose 
our  citizens  to  the  contagion  of  that  example,  which  bids  fair  to 
destroy  the  peace  of  North  Carolina. 

In  this  state  of  things  it  is,  that  variety  of  informations  have 
come  to  me,  stating  that  several  persons,  but  especially  Col.  Ar 
thur  Campble,  have  used  their  utmost  endeavours,  and  with  some 
success,  to  persuade  the  citizens  in  that  quarter  to  break  off  from 
this  commonwealth,  and  attach  themselves  to  the  newly-assumed 
government,  or  erect  one,  distinct  from  it.  And  in  order  to  effect 
3  M  39 


458  APPENDIX. 

tliis  purpose,  the  equity  and  authority  of  the  laws  have  been  ai- 
raigned,  the  collection  of  the  taxes  impeded,  and  our  national  char 
acter  impeached.  But  as  I  send  you  the  several  papers  I  have  re 
ceived  on  that  subject,  I  need  not  enlarge  further  than  remark 
that  if  this  most  important  part  of  our  territory  be  lopped  off,  we 
lose  that  barrier  for  which  our  people  have  long  and  often  fought 
that  nursery  of  soldiers  from  which  future  armies  may  be  levied, 
and  through  which  it  will  be  almost  impossible  for  our  enemies  to 
penetrate  :  we  shall  aggrandize  the  new  state,  whose  connexions, 
views,  and  designs  we  know  not ;  shall  cease  to  be  formidable  to 
our  savage  neighbours,  or  respectable  to  our  western  settlements, 
at  present  and  in  future. 

While  these  and  many  other  matters  were  contemplated  by  the 
executive,  it  is  natural  to  suppose,  the  attempt  for  separation  was 
discouraged  by  every  lawful  means  ;  the  chief  of  which  was,  dis 
placing  such  of  the  field  officers  of  militia,  in  Washington  county, 
as  were  active  partisans  for  separation,  in  order  to  prevent  the 
weight  of  office  being  cast  in  the  scale  against  this  state  :  to  this 
end  a  proclamation  was  issued,  declaring  the  militia  law  of  the  last 
session  in  force,  in  that  county,  and  appointments  of  officers  were 
made  agreeable  to  it. 

I  hope  to  be  excused  for  expressing  a  wish,  that  the  assembly, 
in  deliberating  on  this  affair,  will  prefer  lenient  measures  in  order 
to  reclaim  our  erring  fellow-citizens.  Their  taxes  have  run  into 
three  years'  arrear,  and,  thereby,  grown  to  an  amount  beyond  the 
ability  of  many  to  discharge,  while  the  system  of  our  trade  has 
been  such,  as  to  render  their  agriculture  unproductive  of  money  ; 
and  I  cannot  but  suppose,  that  if  even  the  warmest  supporters  of 
separation  had  seen  the  mischievous  consequences  of  it,  they 
would  have  retracted  ;  and  condemned  that  intemperance  in  their 


APPENDIX.  459 

own  proceedings,  which  opposition  in  sentiments  is  too  apt  to 
produce. 

A  letter  from  the  countess  of  Huntingdon  and  another  from  Sir 
James  Jay,  expressing  her  intentions  to  attempt  the  civilization  of 
the  Indians,  are  also  sent  you.  It  will  rest  with  the  assembly  to 
decide  upon  the  means  for  executing  this  laudable  design,  that  re 
flects  so  much  honour  on  that  worthy  lady. 

By  a  resolution  of  the  last  assembly,  the  auditors  were  prevent 
ed  from  liquidating  the  claims  of  the  officers  and  soldiers,  after 
the  first  day  of  May  last.  Although  the  wisdom  of  such  a  meas 
ure  must  be  admitted,  yet  several  cases  have  come  to  my  know 
ledge  where  claims,  founded  upon  the  clearest  principles  of  jus 
tice,  have  been  rejected  by  reason  of  that  restriction  :  and  when 
I  consider  that  the  claimants  will  be  found  to  consist,  in  consider 
able  degree,  of  widows,  orphans,  and  those  who  have  been  taken 
prisoners,  I  am  persuaded  the  assembly  will  think  that  a  rigorous 
adherence  to  the  forementioned  resolution  is  improper,  and  that 
justice  will  be  done  to  the  claims  of  those  few,  whose  poverty,  ig 
norance,  or  other  misfortunes,  prevented  earlier  applications. 

By  Mr.  Ross's  letter,  No.  5,  the  assembly  will  observe  his  de 
mand  against  the  state,  and  that  it  can  be  properly  discussed  only 
by  the  legislature.  Although  the  post  at  Point  of  Fork  has  been 
long  occupied,  I  cannot  discover  the  least  trace  of  title  to  the  ground 
vested  in  the  public,  or  any  previous  stipulation  with  the  proprie 
tor  for  the  temporary  possession  of  it.  While  the  assembly  are 
considering  of  a  proper  satisfaction  to  the  owner  for  the  time  past, 
I  trust  provision  will  be  made  to  secure  a  permanent  repository  for 
the  public  arms  and  military  stores,  at  that  or  some  other  place 
most  proper  for  the  purpose. 

The  honourable  William  Nelson  hath  resigned  his  office  as  a 
member  of  the  council,  as  appears  by  his  letter,  No.  6. 


460  APPENDIX. 

The  honourable  Henry  Tazewell,  esq.,  has  been  appointed  a 
judge  of  the  general  court  in  the  room  of  the  hon.  B.  Danbridge, 
esq.  deceased,  until  the  assembly  shall  signify  take  pleasure. 

The  honourable  Geo.  Muter,  esq.,  has  been  appointed  a  judge  of 
the  general  court  in  Kentucky,  in  the  room  of  Cyrus  Griffin,  esq., 
who  resigned  his  appointment. 

Thomas  Massie,  esq.,  having  resigned  his  appointment  for  open 
ing  a  road  on  the  northwestern  frontier,  Joseph  Neville,  esq.,  has 
been  appointed  in  his  room. 

The  report  of  the  commissioners  for  disposing  of  the  Gosport 
lands,  No.  9,  will  explain  to  the  assembly  their  transactions  in  that 
business. 

Mr.  Rene  Rapicault,  of  New  Orleans,  exhibited  an  account 
against  this  commonwealth  for  a  considerable  sum  of  money  which 
appears  to  be  due  to  him.  But  as  it  will  be  found  by  reference  to 
his  papers,  No.  10,  that  this  debt,  however  just,  cannot  be  paid 
from  any  fund  now  existing,  it  is  submitted  to  the  legislature  to 
make  such  provision  for  its  payment,  as  to  them  shall  seem  proper. 

The  report  of  the  commissioners  for  extending  the  boundary 
line  between  Virginia  and  Pennsylvania,  No.  11,  will  explain  the 
manner  in  which  that  business  has  been  executed. 

By  Mr.  Jefferson's  letters  it  appears,  that  the  original  sum  grant 
ed  to  procure  a  statue  of  General  Washington  will  be  deficient. 
The  further  sum  wanting,  together  with  the  reasons  for  increas 
ing  the  expense  of  the  work,  will  appear  by  Mr.  Jefferson's  cor 
respondence,  No.  12. 

The  crews  of  the  boats  Liberty  and  Patriot  were  ordered  to  be 
enlisted  for  12  months  from  August  last,  unless  sooner  discharged. 
This  was  done  in  order  that  the  assembly  might,  if  they  judged 
proper,  determine  to  discontinue  them,  or  if  they  are  retained, 


APPENDIX.  461 

make  suitable  provision  for  their  support :  hitherto,  that  has  been 
defrayed  out  of  the  contingent  fund.  But  the  great  variety  of  ex 
penses  charged  on  that  fund,  make  it  necessary,  in  future,  to  pro 
vide  some  other  mode  of  support  for  them.  The  assembly  will,  no 
doubt,  observe  in  the  course  of  their  deliberations  on  the  subject 
of  revenue,  that  it  is  necessary  for  the  executive  to  commission 
the  officers.  The  officer  commanding  one  of  these  boats  has  de 
tected  several  persons  attempting  to  evade  the  payment  of  duty, 
and  in  compliance  with  the  law,  as  he  supposes,  took  bonds  for  the 
payment  of  the  penalties  imposed  for  making  false  entries.  But  it 
seems  there  are  great  difficulties  in  recovering  judgment  on  these 
bonds,  owing  to  ambiguity  in  the  law  respecting  the  subject.  The 
assembly  will  apply  such  remedy  for  this  evil  as  they  think  proper. 

Application  hath  been  made  to  the  executive,  on  the  subject  of 
paying  into  the  continental  treasury,  warrants  for  interest  due  on 
loan  office  certificates,  and  other  liquidated  claims  against  the  con 
tinent.  And  although  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  payments,  made 
by  the  treasurer  to  the  continental  receiver,  may  include  the  pro 
portion  of  warrants  specified  by  congress  in  their  act  of  the  23th 
of  April,  1784,  yet  the  receiver,  when  possessed  of  the  cash,  al 
though  it  was  unaccompanied  by  any  warrants,  does  not  conceive 
himself  justified  in  parting  with  any  money  in  exchange  for  them. 
Si  that  until  the  assembly  shall  interpose,  by  making  these 
warrants  receivable  at  the  treasury,  our  citizens  will  suffer  great 
injury,  and  be  deprived  of  a  facility  enjoyed  by  the  citizens  of  the 
other  states. 

The  sum  of  money  allowed  by  the  assembly  in  their  resolution 
of  the  13th  of  June,  1783,  for  compiling,  printing,  and  binding  the 
laws,  has  proved  inadequate  to  the  purpose  ;  five  hundred  pounds 
having  been  expended  in  the  printing,  and  two  hundred  and  fifty 

39 


462  APPENDIX. 

engaged  to  be  divided  among  the  gentlemen  who  made  the  compi 
lation  ;  so  that  nothing  is  left  to  pay  for  the  binding. 

I  cannot  forbear  informing  the  assembly,  that  many  county  courts 
have  failed  to  recommend  sheriffs  in  the  months  of  June  and  July. 
In  consequence  of  this,  many  of  the  counties  will  be  without  sher 
iffs,  in  as  much  as  the  executive  think  they  have  no  power  to  is 
sue  commissions  in  such  cases.  As  this  evil  threatens  so  many 
parts  of  the  state  with  anarchy,  I  have  no  doubt  of  the  legislature 
remedying  it  with  all  possible  despatch. 

I  have  the  honour  to  be,  with  great  regard, 

Your  most  obedient,  humble  servant, 

P.  HENRY 
The  Honourable  the  speaker  of  the  House  of  Delegates. 


NOTE    C. 

Judge  Tucker,  in  his  edition  of  Blackstone,  having  fallen  into 
Mr.  Randolph's  mistake,  in  regard  to  the  case  of  Josiah  Philips, 
the  following  note  has  been  furnished  to  the  author  by  the  gentle 
man  who  was  the  chairman  of  the  committee  : — 

"The  case  of  Josiah  Philips,  I  find  strangely  represented  by 
Judge  Tucker  and  Mr.  Edmund  Randolph,  and  very  negligently 
vindicated  by  Mr.  Henry.  That  case  is  personally  known  to  me, 
because  I  was  of  the  legislature  at  the  time,  was  one  of  those  con 
sulted  by  Mr.  Henry,  and  had  my  share  in  the  passage  of  the  bill. 
I  never  before  saw  the  observations  of  those  gentlemen,  which 
you  quote  on  this  case,  and  will  now,  therefore,  briefly  make  some 
strictures  on  them. 

"  Judge  Tucker,  instead  of  a  definition  of  the  functions  of  bills 
of  attainder,  has  given  a  just  diatribe  against  their  abuse.  The  oc 
casion  and  proper  office  of  a  bill  of  attainder  is  this  ;  when  a  per- 


APPENDIX.  463 

son  charged  with  a  crime  withdraws  from  justice,  or  resists  it  by 
force,  either  in  his  own  or  a  foreign  country,  no  other  means  of 
bringing  him  to  trial  or  punishment  being  practicable,  a  special  act 
is  passed  by  the  legislature,  adapted  to  the  particular  case  ;  this 
prescribes  to  him  a  sufficient  term  to  appear  and  submit  to  a  trial 
by  his  peers,  declares  that  his  refusal  to  appear  shall  be  taken  as  a 
confession  of  guilt,  as  in  the  ordinary  case  of  an  offender  at  the 
bar  refusing  to  plead,  and  pronounces  the  sentence  which  would 
have  been  rendered  on  his  confession  or  conviction  in  a  court  of 
law.  No  doubt  that  these  acts  of  attainder  have  been  abused  in 
England  as  instruments  of  vengeance  by  a  successful  over  a  de 
feated  party.  But  what  institution  is  insusceptible  of  abuse,  in 
wicked  hands  ? 

"  Again,  the  judge  says, '  the  court  refused  to  pass  sentence  of 
execution  pursuant  to  the  directions  of  the  act.'  The  court  could 
not  refuse  this,  because  it  was  never  proposed  to  them,  and  my  au 
thority  for  this  assertion  shall  be  presently  given. 

"  For  the  perversion  of  a  fact  so  intimately  known  to  himself, 
Mr.  Randolph  can  be  excused  only  by  our  indulgence  for  orators 
who,  pressed  by  a  powerful  adversary,  lose  sight,  in  the  ardour  of 
conflict,  of  the  rigorous  accuracies  of  fact,  and  permit  their  imagi 
nation  to  distort  and  colour  them  to  the  views  of  the  moment.  He 
was  attorney-general  at  the  time,  and  told  me  himself  the  first  time 
I  saw  him  after  the  trial  of  Philips,  that  when  taken  and  delivered 
up  to  justice,  he  had  thought  it  best  to  make  no  use  of  the  act  of 
attainder,  and  to  take  no  me  asure  under  it ;  that  he  had  endicted 
him,  at  the  common  law,  either  for  murder  or  robbery,  (I  forget 
which,  and  whether  for  both,)  that  he  was  tried  on  this  endictm  ent 
in  the  ordinary  way,  found  guilty  by  the  jury,  sentenced  and  exe 
cuted  under  the  common  law  ;  a  course  which  every  one  appro v- 


464  APPENDIX.  % 

cd,  because  the  first  object  of  the  act  of  attainder  was,  to  bring 
him  to  fair  trial.  Whether  Mr.  Randolph  was  right  in  this  inform 
ation  to  me,  or,  when  in  the  debate  with  Mr.  Henry,  he  repre 
sents  this  atrocious  offender  as  sentenced  and  executed  under  the 
act  of  attainder,  let  the  record  of  the  case  decide. 

"  *  Without  being  confronted  with  his  accusers  and  witnesses, 
without  the  privilege  of  calling  for  evidence  in  his  behalf,  he  was 
sentenced  to  death,  and  afterward  actually  executed.'  I  appeal  to 
the  universe  to  produce  one  single  instance,  from  the  first  estab 
lishment  of  government  in  this  state  to  the  present  day,  where,  in  a 
trial  at  bar,  a  criminal  has  been  refused  confrontation  with  his  ac 
cusers  and  witnesses,  or  denied  the  privilege  of  calling  for  evi 
dence  in  his  behalf.  Had  it  been  done  in  this  case,  I  would  have 
asked  of  the  attorney-general,  why  he  proposed  or  permitted  it  ? 
But,  without  having  seen  the  record,  I  will  venture,  on  the  charac 
ter  of  our  courts,  to  deny  that  it  was  done.  But  if  Mr.  Randolph 
meant,  only,  that  Philips  had  not  these  advantages,  on  the  passage 
of  the  bill  of  attainder,  how  idle  to  charge  the  legislature  with  omit 
ting  to  confront  the  culprit  with  his  witnesses,  when  he  was  stand 
ing  out  in  arms,  and  in  defiance  of  their  authority  ;  and  their  sen 
tence  was  to  take  effect,  only  on  his  own  refusal  to  come  in  and  be 
confronted.  We  must  either,  therefore,  consider  this  as  a  mere  hy- 
perbolism  of  imagination,  in  the  heat  of  debate,  or,  what  I  should 
rather  believe,  a  defective  statement  by  the  reporter  of  Mr.  Ran 
dolph's  argument.  I  suspect  this  last  the  rather,  because  this 
point  in  the  charge  of  Mr.  Randolph,  is  equally  omitted  in  the  de 
fence  of  Mr.  Henry.  This  gentleman  must  have  known  that  Phil 
ips  was  tried  and  executed  under  the  common  Kw,  and  yet,  accord 
ing  to  this  report,  he  rests  his  defence  on  a  justification  of  the  at 
tainder  onlv.  But  all  who  knew  Mr.  Henry,  know,  that  when  al 


APPENDIX.  465 

ease  in  argument,  he  was  sometimes  careless,  not  giving  himself 
the  trouble  of  ransacking  either  his  memory  or  imagination  for  all 
the  topics  of  his  subject,  or  his  audience  that  of  hearing  them.  No 
man  on  earth  knew  better  when  he  had  said  enough  for  his  hearers. 
"  Mr.  Randolph  charges  us  with  having  read  the  bill  three  times 
in  the  same  day.  I  do  not  remember  the  fact,  nor  whether  this 
was  enforced  on  us  by  the  urgency  of  the  ravages  of  Philips,  or 
of  the  time  at  which  the  bill  was  introduced.  I  have  some  idea  it 
was  at  or  near  the  close  of  the  session.  The  journals,  which  I 
have  not,  will  ascertain  this  fact." 

The  following  proceedings  against  Josiah  Philips  and  his  asso 
ciates,  are  extracted  from  the  records  of  the  general  court ;  and  are 
followed  by  the  notice  of  the  execution  of  these  men,  from  the 
public  prints  of  the  day  :  which,  it  is  hoped,  will  put  a  final  end 
to  this  mistake,  so  little  to  the  honour  of  our  revolution. 

"  VIRGINIA,  to  wit : — 

"  The  jurors  for  the  commonwealth,  upon  their  oath  present : 
That  Josiah  Philips,  late  of  the  parish  of  Lynhaven,  in  the  county 
of  Princess  Ann,  labourer,  on  the  ninth  day  of  May,  in  the  year 
of  our  Lord  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventy-eight,  with 
force  and  arms,  at  the  parish  aforesaid,  in  the  county  aforesaid,  in 
the  highway  of  the  commonwealth  there,  in  and  upon  one  James 
Hargrove,  in  the  peace  of  God  and  of  the  commonwealth,  then 
and  there  being,  feloniously  did  make  an  assault,  and  him,  the  said 
James  Hargrove,  in  bodily  fear  and  danger  of  his  life,  in  the  high 
way  aforesaid,  then  and  there  feloniously  did  put,  and  twenty- 
eight  men's  felt  hats  of  the  value  of  twenty  shillings  each,  and 
five  pounds  of  twine  of  the  value  of  five  shillings  each  pound,  of 
the  goods  and  chattels  of  the  said  James  Hargrove,  from  the  per- 
3  N 


466  APPENDIX. 

son  and  against  the  will  of  the  said  James  Hargrove,  in  the  high 
way  aforesaid,  then  and  there  feloniously  and  violently  did  steal, 
take,  and  carry  away,  against  the  peace  and  dignity  of  the  com 
monwealth. 

"Witness  — James  Hargrove,  Benjamin  Griffin,  William  Lovett, 
Polly  Davis,  Horatio  Davis,  and  John  Matthias.  Sworn  in  court 
Oct.  20th,  1778.  JOHN  MAY." 

The  above  endictment  is  thus  endorsed  :— 

"  An  endictment  against  Josiah  Philips  for  robbery,"  (in  Mr. 
Randolph's  hand- writing.)  "  A  true  bill.  Wm.  Holt,  foreman." 

"  VIRGINIA. 

"  In  the  General  Court,  20th  October,  1778. 
'Josiah  Philips,  late  of  the  parish  of  Lynhaven,  in  the  county 
of  Princess  Ann,  labourer,  who  stands  endictedfor  robbery,  was 
led  to  the  bar  in  custody  of  the  keeper  of  the  public  jail,  and  was 
thereof  arraigned,  and  pleaded  not  guilty  to  the  endictment,  and  for 
his  trial  put  himself  upon  God  and  the  country.  Whereupon  came 
a  jury,  to  wit :  James  Letate,  Thomas  Stanley,  Gilliam  Booth, 
Stapleton  Crutchfield,  John  Tankerley,  John  Draper,  Leonard 
Henley,  Micajah  Chiles,  Richard  Swepson,  William  James  Lewis, 
Thomas  Cowles,  and  Abrose  Raines,  who,  being  elected,  tried  and 
sworn  the  truth  of,  and  upon  premises  to  speak,  and  having  heard 
the  evidence,  upon  their  oath  do  say,  that  the  said  Josiah  Philips 
is  guilty  of  the  robbery  aforesaid  in  manner  and  form  as  in  the 
endictment  against  him  is  alleged,  and  that  he  had  neither  lands 
nor  tenements,  goods  nor  chattels  at  the  time  of  committing  the 
said  robbery,  nor  at  any  time  since,  to  their  knowledge  ;  and  there 
upon  he  is  remanded  to  jail. 


APPENDIX.  467 

"  October  the  27th,  1778. 

v*  Josiah  Philips,  late  of  the  parish  of  Lynhaven,  in  the  county 
of  Princess  Ann,  labourer,  who  stands  convicted  of  robbery,  was 
again  led  to  the  bar  in  custody  of  the  keeper  of  the  public  jail, 
and  thereupon  it  being  demanded  of  him  if  any  thing  he  had  or 
knew  to  say  for  himself,  why  the  court,  here,  to  judgment  and  ex 
ecution  of  and  upon  the  premises,  should  not  proceed,  he  said  he 
had  nothing  but  what  he  had  before  said.  Therefore,  it  is  con 
sidered  by  the  court,  that  he  be  hanged  by  the  neck  until  he  be 
dead. 

"October  28,  1778. 

"  John  Lowry,  John  Reizen,  and  Charles  Bowman,  for  murder, 
Josiah  Philips,  James  Hodges,  Henry  M'Lalen,  and  Robert  Hod 
ges,  for  robbery,  James  Randolph  for  horse-stealing,  Joseph  Tur 
ner,  otherwise  called  Josiah  Blankenship,  for  burglary,  and  John 
High  warden  for  grand  larceny,  being  under  sentence  of  death  by 
the  judgment  of  the  court  yesterday  passed  against  them  for  their 
said  offence  :  It  is  awarded,  that  ext,?ution  of  the  said  sentence 
be  severally  made  and  done  upon  them  the  said  John  Lowry,  John 
Reizen,  Charles  Bowman,  Josiah  Philips,  James  Hodges,  Henry 
M'Lalen,  Robert  Hodges,  James  Randolph,  Joseph  Turner,  other 
wise  called  Josiah  Blankenship,  and  John  Highwarden,  by  the 
sheriff  of  York  county,  on  Friday  the  fourth  day  of  December  next, 
between  the  hours  of  ten  and  twelve  in  the  forenoon,  at  the  usual 
place  of  execution. 

"  Copies — Teste, 

"  PEYTON  DREW,  C.  G.  C  " 


4G8  APPENDIX 

Extract  from  Dixon  and  Hunter's  paper  of  October  30th,  1778. 

"  WILLIAMSBURG — At  a  general  court,  begun  and  held  at  the 
capitol  the  10th  instant,  the  following  criminals  were  condemned 
to  suffer  death  :  Charles  Bowman,  from  Prince  George,  for  mur 
der;  John  Lowry,  from  Bedford,  for  ditto  ;  Josiah  Philips,  James 
Hodges,  Robert  Hodges,  and  Henry  M'Lalcn,from  Princess  Ann, 
for  robbery ;  John  Highwarden,  from  Fauquier,  for  grand  larceny  ; 
Joseph  Turner,  alias  Josiah  Blankenship,  from  Albemarle,  for  bur 
glary;  and  James  Randolph,  from  Culpepei  for  horse-stealing." 

Extract  from  Dixon  and  Hunter's  paper  of  December  4,  1778. 

"WILLIAMSBURG — This  day  were  executed,  at  the  gallows  near 
this  city,  pursuant  to  their  sentence,  the  following  criminals,  viz.. 
Josiah  Philips,  Henry  M'Lalen,  Robert  Hodges,  John  Reizeu 
and  Josiah  Blankenship." 

T  HE     EN  I). 


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DUE  AS  STAMPED  BELOW 


JAN  04  JP93 


AUrODbCORC 


FORM  NO.  DD6 


LD2lA-40m-3,*72 
(Qll788lO)476-A-32 


UNIVERSITY  OF  L 
BERKELEY 


General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


YC  50812 


GENERAL  LIBRARY  -  U.C.  BERK 


